Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/notesontravelsOOjohn 




SOLOMON JOHNSON 



1 

NOTES ON 


T R A V ELS 


INCLUDING 


A TRIP AROUND THE 

WORLD BY WAY 

OF AUSTRALIA 


BY 


Solomon Johnson 


FORMERLY LECTURER STATE FARMERS' INSTITUTES 

MEMBER OF 1912 CONSTITUTIONAL 

CONVENTION OF OHIO 

i 
■ - 

| 


The F. J. Heer Printing Co. 

Columbus, Ohio 

1914 



Q «40 



Copyright 1914 

BY 

Solomon Johnson 
Published December, 1914 



#/2f 

DEC 11 1914 

©CI.A387891 



PREFACE 



THESE notes are the result of a few articles 
published in the local press while I was 
on my trip around the world, by way of 
Australia. 

Since my return many readers of those ar- 
ticles have thanked me for the information that 
they contained and for the pleasure they enjoyed 
in reading them, and expressed the hope that I 
might expand them and publish them in book 
form. 

Very few travelers take notes when on a 
vacation as it seems a task to do so, but the in- 
formation and pleasure one derives from them 
by having them at hand for future reference are 
worth many times the cost of making them. 

The writer's object in traveling has been 
primarily to get knowledge at first-hand and in- 
cidentally for pleasure. In selecting the material 
for this small book from the more than one 
thousand pages of original notes, the writer has 
had but one object in view, namely, the desire to 
furnish the reader with interesting information 
without making the chapters too long and tedious. 

The references to the different agricultural 
(iii) . 



iv PREFACE 

experiment stations visited, will no doubt be 
especially interesting to the rural readers. 

It is however the hope of the writer that 
the book will prove interesting to all classes of 
readers and especially so to the young. 

Solomon Johnson. 
Stryker, Ohio, Sept., 1914. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I. page 

To Vancouver 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Across the Pacific ~ 

CHAPTER III. 
New Zealand 20 

CHAPTER IV. 
Hobart to Sydney 43 

CHAPTER V. 
Sydney and New South Wales 48 

CHAPTER VI. 
Melbourne and Victoria 65 

CHAPTER VII. 
Melbourne, Adelaide and South Australia ... 85 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Australia in General 96 

CHAPTER IX. 
Adelaide to Port Said 113 

CHAPTER X. 
The Holy Land 133 

(v) 



vi CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XI. 



PAGE 



Egypt and the Pyramids 156 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Mediterranean, Marseilles and Genoa . . . 178 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Rome 191 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Naples, Florence and Venice 203 

CHAPTER XV. 
France and Germany 219 

CHAPTER XVI. 
London and Vicinity ■ 233 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Coronation, Norwich and Liverpool .... 255 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Conclusion 281 



ERRATA 



Pages 49 to 64, first line, first word, read Sydney, instead 
of Sidnev. 



CHAPTER I 
TO VANCOUVER 

AFTER getting business matters in shape 
and spending some time reading several 
excellent books on Australia and the 
Islands of the Pacific, my brother and I started 
on our trip to that far away country on Novem- 
ber 22, 1910. 

We very much desired to go by way of San 
Francisco but as there was no direct connection 
to Australia from that city we were compelled 
to sail from Vancouver, British Columbia. We 
went by way of Chicago and St. Paul and crossed 
into Canada at Portal near the northeast corner 
of North Dakota. 

From Portal to Moose Jaw and beyond we 
passed through a fine farming country. It put 
me very much in mind of North Dakota. For 
miles and miles there was scarcely a tree or 
shrub but great tracts of level land without 
fences, dotted everywhere with strawstacks with 
a small building near each stack for storing 
grain. These buildings seemed to be ten or 
twelve feet wide and about fifteen or twenty feet 
long. They were, as a rule, neatly painted red 

(i) 



2 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

but now and then a building was not painted and 
had no roof. The grain was put into these tem- 
porarily and would soon be removed. A great 
majority of the strawstacks had no other build- 
ings near them except these small grain houses. 

These farms seemed to be large and the 
houses were far apart and most of them rather 
small. There were but few barns and the stock 
seemed to run out all winter. Much the same 
condition existed in the Province of Alberta, 
where so many people have been going from the 
United States during the past few years. Among 
others we met a family from southern Indiana, 
who were going far beyond Calgary expecting to 
find a land of promise. 

The first class land through this section is 
worth from twenty-five to one hundred dollars 
per acre if near the railway. They raise large 
crops of wheat, oats, and barley, and in some 
cases they have turned their attention to flax 
raising. Some of the farms will produce from 
twenty-five to thirty-five bushels of wheat per 
acre and good crops of oats and barley, but grain 
raising is beginning to deplete the land so that 
they are now beginning to follow mixed farming 
in order to restore the fertility of the soil. 

Flax produces from twelve to eighteen bush- 
els of seed per acre and was worth a short time 
ago more than two dollars per bushel so the 
trusts were not entirely to blame for the high 



TO VANCOUVER 3 

price of linseed oil at that time. The price of 
the raw product had something to do with it. 

We made our first stop at Banff in the Canad- 
ian National Park. It is a fine resort in summer 
but in winter it is rather a dreary place. It was 
here that we met with the first and only zero 
weather on our trip around the world. The 
thermometer stood at ten degrees below zero by 
the government report on Friday morning, No- 
vember 25th. 

It was a fine winter morning, very still but 
with little snow on the ground. My brother and 
I took a walk across the Bow River to the Cave 
and Basin, a sulphur spring whose temperature 
was about ninety degrees Fahrenheit. The large 
bathing pool is outside of the building. While 
we were there three travelers put on bathing 
suits, took a bath in the spring and seemed to be 
jolly and comfortable, although their heads were 
frosty from the zero weather above. 

According to the government records at this 
place the temperature was from twenty-five to 
forty-seven degrees below zero all day on Janu- 
ary 8, 1909, and for many days during that win- 
ter it was from thirty-five to forty degrees below 
zero. 

We had expected to stop at Field, Laggan, and 
Glacier, but as everything is so dead in this sec- 
tion during the winter we concluded to go on to 
Revelstoke, a large town quite a distance beyond 



4 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the Continental Divide, and stop there over Sun- 
day. The weather through the mountains was 
fine all the way from Banff. There was very 
little snow on the ground anywhere. This was 
a surprise, as those who are acquainted with the 
country say that there is usually an abundance 
of snow at this time of the year. 

The ride through the mountains was fine. I 
was surprised that the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way maintains such excellent service through the 
mountains at this distance north. After we 
passed Laggan and on toward Glacier and be- 
yond, there were from twelve to fifteen miles of 
snowsheds made very strong /with their roofs 
sloping up towards the mountains and hugging 
them very closely, so that when a glacier or snow- 
slide comes down the mountains it strikes the 
roof and slides over the shed and drops on the 
opposite side of the track into the abyss below. 
It would be impossible to maintain a regular 
service through the mountains without these 
sheds. Sometimes when a large stone or boulder 
slides down with the snow it will break through 
the roof of the shed and delay traffic for a short 
time. 

While at Revelstoke, British Columbia, we at- 
tended the Canadian Methodist Church. The 
minister was a young man and preached a ser- 
mon on faith. Besides the choir which consisted 
of six young ladies and five young gentlemen, 



TO VANCOUVER 5 

only about thirty persons were present. The 
house was chilly although the weather was not 
very cold outside. 

We went from Revelstoke to North Bend and 
I think that I never saw a prettier sight than we 
beheld on our way from that place to Vancouver. 
The morning was bright and beautiful and the 
mountains were covered with snow more than 
half way down their sides but near their base 
and along the valley there was no snow and in 
many places horses and cattle were grazing in 
the pastures. The shrubs and trees on the sides 
of the mountains were covered with sleet and 
frost while those below and in the valley were 
fresh and green. The scene from the train as 
it ran through the valley was grand and beauti- 
ful beyond description. 

The mountain scenery in Colorado and on the 
Pacific coast in the United States is very fine. 
Whether the Canadian Rockies are more beauti- 
ful and magnificent than our own, I am unable 
to say, but the scenery is very fine and some of 
the resorts in the Canadian National Park must 
be delightful places to spend the summer. 

Vancouver, twenty-five years ago, was noth- 
ing but a small village. They now claim more 
than one hundred thousand inhabitants. It is 
energetic and wide-awake. In the book stores 
you will find nearly all the American magazines, 
so many of them that I began to think that I 



6 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

was in the United States. They* have many ar- 
ticles for sale that were manufactured in the 
United States. In one business place I saw more 
than forty cash registers, some of them the 
finest made at Dayton, Ohio. 



CHAPTER II 

ACROSS THE PACIFIC 

WE left Vancouver December 2d, on the 
steamer Zealandia with a full load of 
passengers representing a dozen or 
more nationalities. About three hundred people 
came down to the wharf to see us off. They were 
a jolly crowd. Nearly every one on board seemed 
happy. One young lady said jokingly to an- 
other, "I will never see you again." The reply 
was, "0, yes you will." The feeling in general 
was one of security and hope for a safe return. 
We were to leave at one o'clock, but on account 
of the enormous mail, some of which was a little 
late, to be taken to the different parts of the 
world, we did not get off until two p. m. Our 
first landing was at Victoria on Vancouver Is- 
land at eight p. m., where we stopped for some 
passengers and more mail, intending to leave at 
nine p. m. But the mail again delayed us for 
nearly an hour. There were several wagon loads 
of mail, some for Honolulu, Suva, Brisbane, Syd- 
ney, Melbourne, Auckland, and elsewhere. The 
mail was put on board by use of a derrick, a 
large number of sacks being checked off of the 

(7) 



8 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

wagons, placed in a net and put into the hold 
of the vessel all at once. 

We were soon on our way again sailing 
through the Strait out on the broad Pacific. The 
weather was fair but a little chilly, and we en- 
joyed the trip from Vancouver to Victoria very 
much, but what a change ! We had no sooner 
gotten well out into the ocean than the sad fact 
dawned upon us that the grand old Pacific was 
not so "pacific" after all. The boat rolled and 
pitched and tossed us about in our beds so that 
scarcely any one wanted any breakfast. As a 
matter of fact I think only five went to break- 
fast, but they soon found that breakfast was not 
what they wanted and in short order they began 
to repent of their indiscretion. The boat tossed 
and pitched for two or three days. It was not 
what sailors call a storm, but there was some- 
thing about it that made passengers sick who 
had been on the water more or less for twenty 
years and had never been sick until this their 
first experience. Passengers would stagger 
about as if they were intoxicated and several had 
hard falls. This rolling and pitching, like other 
things, came to an end and we had as a whole a 
pleasant and jolly trip to Honolulu. 

There were twelve Mormon missionaries on 
board, two of whom got off at Honolulu, and some 
of the others went to Australia and New Zealand. 
Two women were in the party. Most of them 



ACCROSS THE PACIFIC 9 

however were young men who seemed to have a 
desire to do the world some good. 

We arrived at Honolulu before daylight on 
December 10th and waited outside the harbor for 
the health officer to come on board. He put in 
an appearance about seven o'clock and went 
through the formality of examining the passen- 
gers and crew, reported us all right and allowed 
the vessel to land. We had breakfast on board 
and went ashore at eight forty-five a. m., with 
notice that the vessel would sail again at one p. 
m. Every one seemed in a hustle to get to the 
postoffice to mail letters, cards, and presents, and 
to get mail from friends. We joined in the rush 
and in a few moments were in the United States 
postoffice on Uncle Sam's soil. At a long desk in 
the building many persons were stamping and 
mailing cards and letters. It was a busy place. 
After posting a dozen or more letters and cards 
we made our way up Fort Street to King Street 
and took an open trolley car for the Aquarium 
at Kapiolain Park. In a short time we passed the 
Judiciary Building. Just opposite it stands what 
was the Royal Palace. They were fine buildings, 
but more beautiful than any building were the 
tropical plants, shrubs, and trees that lined the 
streets nearly the whole distance to the Park. 
Plants and shrubs with the most beautiful flow- 
ers, shrubs with large bunches of bananas, stately 
palm trees and cocoanut trees, loaded with 



10 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

bunches of cocoanuts were all about us and the 
lawn at the park was thick and soft like velvet. 

We had not proceeded far on our trolley ride 
until I said, "This is surely Paradise." Truly it 
is worth a trip from New York to see it. All the 
adjectives that Marie Corelli uses in her novels 
will not describe it, so I shall not attempt to do 
so. Anyone who has visited Pasadena, near Los 
Angeles, California, with its semi-tropical plants 
may have a faint idea as to how beautiful it is 
here. The fact is that these, the Hawaiian Is- 
lands, are called the Paradise of the Pacific. 

The Aquarium is well worth seeing, and while 
we were admiring the beauty of the fishes of 
many colors, imagine our surprise in running 
across a fellow passenger from Philadelphia who 
said, "This is nothing. If I had known that it 
was no better than this I would not have come." 
It seems as if some people have not the capacity 
to enjoy God's beautiful world. They need pity. 

From the Aquarium we went to the Bishop 
Museum. On the way to the museum we passed 
several fields of sugar cane. The cane was just 
coming into head and looked very heavy. The 
museum is a very good one. It has Bishop Hall 
connected with it, at which about one hundred 
Hawaiians (young men) are getting an educa- 
tion, and across the way at some distance is a 
school for Hawaiian girls. The income of one- 
third of all the lands of the islands produces the 



ACCROSS THE PACIFIC 11 

funds that sustains this museum and the schools, 
so we were informed. 

The trolley service in Honolulu is first class 
and one can go almost any place for five cents. 
After strolling about the markets and stores we 
dropped into the Baltimore Dairy on Fort Street 
and had a dish of ice cream. We then returned 
to the steamer and found that it would not leave 
until two p. m. We had lunch on board and then 
I learned that the mail steamer "Asia" from the 
Orient, which had arrived earlier in the morn- 
ing, would leave for San Francisco at five p. m. 
It lay across the wharf from our boat not one 
hundred feet away. I wrote two short letters, 
mailed them on that boat and got permission to 
pass through it. It carried about eighty cabin 
passengers for San Francisco and seemed to be 
manned by Chinese sailors. 

At Honolulu, we left off a few passengers and 
took on board a few others. Among the number 
taken on board were United States navy men for 
the gunboat "Annapolis" stationed at Samoa Is- 
land. They were going as far as Suva, the cap- 
ital of the Fiji Islands and then change for 
Samoa. 

The trip from Honolulu to Suva was pleasant 
but uninteresting until we crossed the Line as 
the Equator is called. Then we passed Mary 
Islands. They are low, very small and not of 
much importance. After we crossed the Line, as 



12 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

every one calls it, the passengers held what is 
called King Neptune's Court. They tried and 
condemned twelve or fifteen fellow passengers 
and as a punishment ducked them in a pond of 
water that was prepared on deck for that pur- 
pose. It was great sport and was enjoyed by all 
classes of passengers. There were fully three 
hundred present at the sport. The object of the 
farce was to initiate the new travelers into the 
mysteries of the southern hemisphere. 

On the seventeenth we had a cricket match on 
board. The second cabin passengers challenged 
the first cabin for a match. The captain of the 
steamer assisted the second cabin passengers or 
they would have been beaten to a "frazzle," but 
with his assistance they came out slightly ahead. 

One evening a show or concert was given for 
the benefit of the Royal Shipwreck Relief and 
Humane Society of New South Wales. The 
amount received was six pounds, ten shillings, 
or about thirty dollars. It was a free offering 
and there was nothing compulsory about it. 
About two hundred and fifty were present at the 
show which took place between eight and ten 
p. m. 

The day following, Saturday, December 17th, 
there was a notice posted at the entrance of the 
music room stating that this will be considered 
Monday, the 19th of December, on account of 
crossing the one hundred and eightieth degree 



ACCROSS THE PACIFIC 13 

west longitude. So we had two weeks without a 
Sunday. 

A drill of the sailors took place during the 
trip, which was quite interesting. The ship's 
bell rang and a number of the sailors went on 
the upper deck and arranged the life boats ready 
for lowering them into the water and then put 
them in place again. This was done so that they 
would have the practice to do it quickly if neces- 
sary. 

When we awoke on Monday morning, Decem- 
ber 19th, we were in the Fijian Archipelago and 
during the forenoon at some distance from the 
ship beautiful green islands were all about us. 
At noon, we saw a small fishing sail boat manned 
by Fijians, who were clothed in their native 
dress, which consisted of a skirt fastened around 
the waist and reaching nearly to the knees. 
They came very close to our ship and we could 
see that they were dark skinned and curly 
headed. They gave us a salute by waving their 
hands and we returned the compliment. 

Suva is the capital of the group of islands and 
looks very pretty as we approach it from the sea. 
It seems to be nestling at the foot of the hills 
close to the water's edge. 

The village contains a population of about 
four thousand, and of that number not more than 
twelve hundred are whites. A great majority of 
the remainder are natives, although there is a 



14 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

large number of East Indians from Calcutta, a 
few Chinese, Japanese, and other nationalities 
also form a part of the population. In fact, there 
is one street in Suva called the Street of all Na- 
tions, because of the many nationalities repre- 
sented upon it. 

Suva is indeed an odd looking place. Nearly 
all of the houses are only one story high, of the 
bungalow style, on account of the frequency of 
windstorms and hurricanes. The people are as 
odd as their surroundings. 

It is said that this is the largest town on any 
of the islands in the Pacific south of Honolulu 
and north of Auckland, New Zealand. These 
islands are rich and very productive, but the 
native Fijian does not care to develop their re- 
sources. He does not like to work; in fact, there 
is no necessity for him to do so. His wants are 
few and easily supplied. He enjoys fishing, is a 
good sailor and thus supplies himself with fish. 
He raises a few yams; fruit is abundant; he re- 
quires but little clothing and he seems to be con- 
tented and happy. Less than seventy-five years 
ago the people of these islands were cannibals 
but now, thanks to Christianity, they are a docile, 
kind, and obliging people. Men and women are 
rarely molested in their travels throughout these 
islands. While these islands belong to Great 
Britain, the natives in a great measure control 



ACCROSS THE PACIFIC 15 

themselves, as the British allow them to keep up 
their tribal governments. 

The resources of the islands are for the most 
part developed by the whites who import East 
Indians to do their work. These people are 
usually brought to the islands under a five year 
contract, but when their time expires and they 
become free they are likely to remain. There are 
about forty thousand Indians upon the islands. 
They are fairly good workers but they are not 
liked as they are said to be of a treacherous dis- 
position. 

The Christian religion has not had as good an 
effect upon the East Indian as it has had upon 
the native Fijian. While the natives outnumber 
the Indians two to one, it is said that ninety per- 
cent of all the crimes are committed by the latter. 
The Indian population is increasing at a rapid 
rate, while the natives are scarcely holding their 
own. It is feared that in a few years these for- 
eigners will overrun all of the islands. During 
our Civil War (1861-65), when the price of cot- 
ton was very high, the British attempted to de- 
velop that industry. It was found that excellent 
cotton could be produced here, but some years 
after the war closed and prices declined, the pro- 
ject was abandoned. 

The writer was told by a well-informed gentle- 
man who spent two years in Suva as a school 



16 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

teacher that there were more white people on 
the islands forty years ago than there are at 
present. Said he, "There is no inducement held 
out for the white race to settle on these islands 
and there is no attempt made to teach the natives 
English." The natives have English schools, how- 
ever, and most of them can read and write. The 
principal industry of the islands is the produc- 
tion of sugar, but they also raise some tobacco 
and rice. 

Our stay at Suva was very short, as it was 
nearly six p. m. when we went ashore and it 
was soon dark. We mailed several letters at the 
postoffice, walked about the village for a short 
time and then returned to the steamer, which 
left for Brisbane about midnight. 

The trip to Brisbane was rather uninterest- 
ing, but as the passengers had organized a Sports 
and Pastime Club which furnished amusement 
and also published a paper called the "Zealandia 
Times," the long hours passed quickly and pleas- 
antly. 

We arrived at Pinkenba Wharves about one 
p. m. on December 24th and were soon permitted 
to go on shore with instructions to be back on 
board at six p. m. Many of the passengers took 
advantage of this opportunity to visit Brisbane, 
which is a little city about nine miles -away. It 
is the capital of Queensland, one of the Australian 
states, and contains several good public build- 



ACCROSS THE PACIFIC 17 

ings. The stores were beautiful, as the display 
of Christmas presents was very fine. Our stay 
in Brisbane was rather short and we soon re- 
turned to the steamer. 

My first impression of Australia was favor- 
able. 

We wers soon on board the steamer again 
and at seven p. m. we were on our way to Syd- 
ney, the metropolis of the Commonwealth of Aus- 
tralia and the capital of the state of New South 
Wales. 

We spent our Christmas on shipboard. The 
lady passengers bought a lot of presents at Bris- 
bane for the children and had a Christmas tree 
in the dining room with appropriate exercises 
from ten to eleven a. m. It was a pretty tree, 
loaded with presents, and the children enjoyed 
it immensely. Mr. Spencer, an old English 
gentleman, was dressed up as Santa Claus and 
I dare say we all thought he looked like the real 
fellow. 

We arrived at Sydney on Monday morning, 
December 26th. Sunday being Christmas, Mon- 
day was observed as a holiday and no business 
of any kind was done. As Tuesday was Boxing 
Day, the banks and nearly all other places of 
business remained closed, but the post office was 
open part of the time. 

There were cheap excursions in all directions 

2 



18 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

from Sydney, either by railway or by boat, and 
on the 27th we took a trip to Manly Beach, a sub- 
.urb of Sydney and one of the fine pleasure resorts 
across the harbor. We went on a small steamer 
and I never saw such a jam of people on any ex- 
cursion before this in my life. The boat was 
crowded, even standing room was all taken, and 
then some had to wait for the next trip. 

This immense jam continued during the en- 
tire day, although boats would go and return 
every half hour and towards evening every fif- 
teen minutes. This harbor is renowned as one 
of the finest in the world, and the people of Syd- 
ney are justly proud of it. The entrance to the 
harbor is only a little more than a mile wide, and 
it is protected on each side by a high rocky coast 
called The Heads. The harbor contains many in- 
lets, its coast line is many miles in extent and 
the water is so deep that the ships can land 
almost any place. It is said that the harbor is 
large enough to accommodate all the ships in the 
world and have room to spare, but this may be 
an exaggeration. 

We are now in the South Temperate Zone and 
the North Star is entirely lost to view but instead 
of it we see the Southern Cross. As a matter of 
course the sun rises in the east just as it does at 
home but in passing to the west it goes north of 
us instead of south so that at noon our shadows 
fall to the south and it is needless to say that it 



ACCROSS THE PACIFIC 19 

seems quite odd. The moon also passes north of 
us in going from east to west. 

The Australians have their summer in De- 
cember, January, and February so it is quite 
warm there at Christmas time. In fact, the day 
after we arrived, the thermometer stood at 
ninety-six degrees in the shade. The Sydney 
papers reported that it was the hottest day since 
December 14, 1909, when it stood at one hundred 
and two degrees in the shade. The heat does 
not seem very oppressive and the nights are 
cool. 

On December 28th, we left Sydney for Auck- 
land, New Zealand, on the steamer Maheno of 
the Union Line. More than a dozen of the pas- 
sengers that arrived in Sydney on the steamer 
Zealandia were passengers on this ship. 

As this was the holiday season there were 
several school teachers and government officials 
from Australia among the passengers. 

After a pleasant voyage of nearly thirteen 
hundred miles we arrived at Auckland about two 
p. m. on January 1, 1911. 



CHAPTER III 

NEW ZEALAND 

AUCKLAND is the metropolis of New Zea- 
land and was formerly its capital. The 
city was full of visitors as this was the 
holiday season; and the next day after our ar- 
rival as I was sitting in the hotel by the window, 
the voices of the fruit peddlers and of the many 
boys selling programs of the races which were to 
take place soon, together with the activity on 
the street, made it look and sound so much like 
a scene in an American city that I could hardly 
realize that I was in a foreign city many miles 
from home. 

Queen Street, which is a very broad one, is 
the main thoroughfare of the city, so much so 
that some people speak of Auckland as a city of 
but one street. It has however several other very 
good streets. It has several fine public buildings, 
among which are the Museum, the Art Gallery, 
the Free Public Library and several places of 
amusement. The city is well provided with 
places of worship representing the Anglican, 
Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Congrega- 
tional, and Unitarian denominations. The parks 

(20) 



NEW ZEALAND 21 

of the city furnish plenty of room for outdoor 
recreation. Albert Park, which is nicely laid out, 
is very pretty with its abundance of flowers, 
shrubs, and plants; and among other things it 
contains a fine bronze statue of Queen Victoria 
on a granite base erected by the people of Auck- 
land district to commemorate her sixtieth reign. 
The Domain is a large tract of land with inter- 
esting drives and paths. The cricket grounds 
within its borders is said to be the largest and 
finest one in New Zealand. 

The Grafton Bridge over Cemetery Gulley is 
one of the finest and largest cement bridges in 
the world. It consists of one long span, more 
than one hundred feet above the ground as it 
spans the Gully, which I think gets its name from 
a very old cemetery which extends along one side 
of the Gully and under one end of the bridge. 
In mentioning some of the many places of in- 
terest in and about Auckland, Mount Eden should 
be included. It is a volcanic hill more than six 
hundred feet high with an extinct crater about 
seventy-five feet deep in the top of it. This 
crater has grass around its sides and a few bar- 
ren stones in the bottom. The landscape scenery 
is very pretty from the top of this mound. The 
city is lying at your feet, the suburbs are around 
about you and the Pacific Ocean is in full view 
on both sides of the peninsula. 

Before my brother and I left Auckland, we 



22 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

secured at the Auckland agency, New Zealand 
Government Tourist and Health Resorts tickets 
good for a tour by railway, steamer, coach, and 
motor from Auckland to Bluff at the southern 
extremity of South Island by way of Rotorua, 
Lake Taupo, Wellington, Christchurch, and 
Dunedin. 

We left Auckland for Rotorua on January 
4th, and when about thirty miles from Auckland 
we passed the noted ostrich farm belonging to 
the Helvetia Estate. We also passed through 
Hamilton, a thriving town on the Waikato River. 
It has a population of about three thousand and 
is situated in a good farming and pastoral dis- 
trict. We saw several fields of New Zealand flax 
of which cordage is made. It grows well on low, 
swampy land. We passed a large native village, 
soon after which we arrived at Rotorua, a little 
before sundown, and secured lodging at the Carl- 
ton Hotel. 

Rotorua is the official center of what is called 
the Hot Lakes District although Hot Springs 
District would be more appropriate. The Sani- 
tarium Grounds and Gardens are very pretty. 
They contain a beautiful fountain, tennis 'land 
croquet lawns, beautiful arbors, and pleasant 
shady walks. At night the grounds are lit by 
electricity and during the evenings it is a pleas- 
ant place for promenading. 

The mineral springs in and about the town 



NEW ZEALAND 23 

are quite numerous, some of which have gained 
world-wide renown because of the great medi- 
cinal value of their water. 

On January 5th we made what is known as 
the Round Trip through the most interesting 
part of the Hot Springs District. Just a short 
distance from Rotorua we passed the native vil- 
lage of Whakarewarewa, a Maori settlement. 
There are several geysers to be seen at this vil- 
lage. The natives who are called Maoris do their 
cooking by the heat of some of these hot springs. 
This native village of Whakarewarewa, called 
Whaka for short, is quite an interesting place. 

Our next stop after a fine drive of seventeen 
miles was at Waimangu where we ate our lunch 
which we took with us from Rotorua, and then 
our party went to the Waimangu House and en- 
gaged Guide Ingle to show us the sights. About 
fifty tourists, including twenty ladies, started on 
a two and a half mile walk with the guide about 
the hills and valleys of the most wonderful Hot 
Spring District of New Zealand. This is the dis- 
trict in which the terrible eruptions and earth- 
quake occurred June 10, 1886, and which de- 
stroyed the native village of Te Wairoa. 

In what is called the Echo Crater are situ- 
ated the Frying Pan, the Waimangu Blow Hole, 
and the Waimangu Geyser. Sulphur, alum, salt, 
and other chemicals- are deposited on the surface 
of the hot sand. The Frying Pan is about one- 



24 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

fourth of an acre in extent and is covered with 
hundreds of miniature geysers. The tourist can 
walk around about and among them, although in 
some places the ground is so hot that it would 
burn his feet if he remained very long. At some 
places in the Frying Pan the guide would take 
a shovel and dig out of the boiling sand at our 
feet large numbers of small pebbles shining like 
nuggets of silver, many of which would dis- 
solve as they were exposed to the air. Some of 
these pebbles make handsome souvenirs of the 
trip. 

About three hundred feet away from the Fry- 
ing Pan, we came to the Waimangu Blow Hole 
from which issues a powerful jet of steam under 
pressure. Recently it has become intermittent. 
It is quiet for seven minutes and then roars for 
eleven minutes. Formerly it was fairly constant 
but not so strong as now. Guide Ingle said that 
the Blow Hole is three degrees Fahrenheit too 
hot for a geyser. That is, if it were three de- 
grees cooler at the outlet, the steam would con- 
dense and water would accumulate in the outlet, 
thus producing a geyser. 

We next went to what was the Great Wai- 
mangu Geyser. The area of its crater is two and 
one-half acres, but it usually sent up one and one- 
half acres of water into the air. The highest 
shot photographed shows one and one-third acres 
of water rising fifteen hundred feet high. It was 



NEW ZEALAND 25 

a wonderful geyser twelve or fifteen years ago, 
but it is not in action now as its crater is filled 
up with sand. 

The tourist is shown a hot creek joining a cold 
one coming from the foot of Rainbow Mountain. 

The guide left us now and we walked a short 
distance to Lake Rotomahana where two launches 
were ready to take us across. It took us one- 
half hour to cross this lake, the water of which 
was hot in some places and cold in others. 

After crossing the lake we were met by the 
celebrated guide, Warbrick, one of the heroes at 
the time of the eruptions and earthquake here- 
tofore mentioned. He took us up a hill so that 
we could have a good view and then told us of 
the many things that took place at the time of the 
terrible eruption of Mount Tarawera. He said 
that the area of the lake that we had just crossed 
contained six thousand acres and that it is more 
than five hundred feet deep, but before the earth- 
quake it contained only four hundred acres. As 
he was an eye witness of the terrible scenes that 
took place on June 10, 1886, he gave us a vivid 
description of them. He said that it was re- 
ported that some of the ashes caused by the erup- 
tion fell on the decks of steamers more than two 
hundred miles away, and that particles of lava 
and dust were thrown to the height of seven 
miles. The beautiful Pink and White Terraces 
were destroyed at that time. They were consid- 



26 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ered one of the finest sights in New Zealand. 
The loss of life was not so great as it might have 
been from the fact that the native village de- 
stroyed at this time was almost entirely de- 
serted because the inhabitants were attending 
some public meeting at a village some distance 
away. The New Zealand official year book for 
1910 places the number of lives lost at one hun- 
dred and one. 

Just one-half hour after we left the boats on 
Lake Rotomahana we got on a launch on Lake 
Tarawera. The last mentioned lake' is rather 
prettier than the former. The two lakes are not 
far apart and there is much lava between them. 
It took about forty minutes to cross this lake, 
and when we got off the launch we were met by 
the coaches going back to Rotorua by another 
route. In a short time we arrived at the lunch 
house, where we stopped one-half hour to see the 
effects of the earthquake that destroyed the 
native village. We saw the schoolmaster's iron 
bedstead all covered with earth except one of the 
ends, which was slightly above the ground. It 
is said that the schoolmaster was among the lost. 
We saw the ruins of the hotel and other build- 
ings which were left just as they were after the 
earthquake. We soon left for Rotorua and 
passed Green Lake (Rotokakahi) and Blue Lake 
(Tikitapu) and arrived at Rotorua at five- thirty 
p. m. On January 6th we left Rotorua on the 



NEW ZEALAND 27 

Overland trip by way of Waiotapu, Wairakei and 
Lake Taupo, to Waiouru, a railway station on the 
main line from Auckland to Wellington. This 
was an interesting trip of one hundred and 
twenty-six miles, part of which was through the 
wonderful Hot Springs District, but much of 
which was through a lonely, desolate country, 
especially south of Lake Taupo. After leaving 
Rotorua we followed as far as Earthquake Flat 
the same route that we traveled on the round trip 
the previous day, and then we took a new route 
and passed Rainbow Mountain, leaving it near 
us on the left. ■ The day before this mountain was 
far to our right. Just before we arrived at Waio- 
tapu we passed Mud Volcano. It is just a little 
mound only a few feet high which we ascended 
by means of plank steps and looked into the 
crater. It put me in mind of a very large kettle 
full of boiling mud. It was not dangerous but 
occasionally it would throw out a little mud on 
a tourist who stood too near it. We arrived at 
Waiotapu, which is about twenty-one miles from 
Rotorua, at noon. There was a large hot spring 
just east of the hotel. Soon after dinner we left 
this place for Wairakei. Much of the way from 
Waiotapu to Wairakei is through a desolate 
country. In many places there is much pumice 
and the country is very poor. A rain overtook 
us when we were within six or seven miles of 
our journey's end. 



28 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

We arrived at Wairakei, which is about fifty 
miles south of Rotorua, at about five-thirty p. m. 
There is a fine bathing pool near the hotel. It is 
supplied with water from one of the hot springs 
and is always nice and clean. Its temperature 
is from ninety to ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. 
It has a cement floor and is surrounded by a 
cement wall about three feet high. As the run- 
ning water flows through it it makes an ideal 
bathing place. The next morning we took a 
guide and started on foot on the Geyser Valley 
sights trip. This valley is full of * interesting 
sights, such as Sparkling Cauldron, the Great 
Wairakei, the Fairies' Pools containing oil, soda, 
alum and iron, the Donkey Engine, which seems 
to play or act like an engine, the Dragon's 
Mouth Geyser, the Ink Pot or Black Geyser, 
Orange Geyser, Long Tom or Mud Geyser, the 
Eagle's Nest Geyser, the Devil's Punch Bowl, the 
Boiler, the Menagerie, and others. One of the 
pools will not play unless the cold water which 
runs into it is diverted from it and then it will 
become active within twenty-five minutes. Pad- 
dle Wheel Geyser is very pretty. Several of the 
other geysers also are quite interesting. We re- 
turned to the hotel and were driven to the Ara- 
tiatia Rapids, about four miles from the hotel 
on the Waikato River. The rapids are rather 
pretty. 

Mr. A. S. Graham, proprietor of Geyser 



NEW ZEALAND 29 

Hotel at Wairakei, informed me that the nearest 
settlement to this place was Taupo, six miles 
away. It contains fifteen or twenty houses and 
has a government school. The government will 
establish a school where there are six or seven 
children, but the parents may have to board the 
teacher. There is no school at Wairakei. 

In fact, there are no houses here except the 
hotel and one or two houses for guides and at- 
tendants. It is about fifty miles to the nearest 
government railway, but there is a private owned 
railway used mostly for hauling timber and other 
freight which is only about fourteen miles away. 

The elevation here is thirteen hundred and 
fifty feet, which makes the nights quite cool. 

Of the many interesting sights at Wairakei, 
one of the most wonderful is Karapiti, or the 
Devil's Blow Hole. It is nearly two miles from 
the hotel. It is a circular depression a few feet 
deep and about ten or twelve feet in diameter, 
situated snugly against a bank about forty feet 
high. At intervals a great volume of steam will 
issue forth with great force out of this depres- 
sion at an angle of about forty-five degrees and 
to the height of fifty or sixty feet. The force 
was so great that pieces of tin and articles of 
clothing thrown into the steam would be blown 
thirty or forty feet away. When the Devil's 
Blow Hole is not in action a person can walk all 
around in the depression. It is not known where 



30 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

this steam is accumulated, but it is supposed to 
come from the geysers heretofore mentioned, al- 
though they are one mile and a half away. 

Sunday afternoon, January 8th, my brother 
and I with several other tourists left Wairakei 
for Taupo in a motor car. We passed along the 
Waikota River for some distance and had a fine 
view of the falls. We soon arrived at Taupo, 
which is situated on the northeast extremity of 
Lake Taupo. We visited the Springs, the Steam 
Terraces, the Crow's Nest, Alum Pool, Soapy 
Water Pool, Soda Pool and Mud Pools. At some 
places the ground seemed dangerous to walk 
upon. Some of the pools are close to the bank 
of the River Waikato. After walking around 
the geysers for about an hour we sat on the bank 
of the river waiting for Crow's Nest Geyser to 
play. It is intermittent and does not play except 
at long intervals. After waiting for more than 
two hours it began to play and threw great quan- 
tities of water from forty to fifty feet high. 

On January 9th we crossed Lake Taupo, which 
is the largest lake in New Zealand. The distance 
across is about twenty-six miles. The boat was 
not a very good one and it rolled a great deal. 
Several of the passengers got quite sick. It re- 
quired a little more than three hours to cross the 
lake. In the morning before we left on the boat, 
a carrier pigeon was let go to inform those at 
the south end of the lake how many tourists 



NEW ZEALAND 31 

would need conveyance to Waiouru. It was 
found that twenty of the passengers were going 
to that place. So when we reached Tokaanu at 
the south end of the lake we were met by two 
hacks and a small open wagon. It had been mist- 
ing all morning and now it began to rain quite 
hard and the roads were miserable, so after driv- 
ing about sixteen miles they changed horses, and 
then after driving about sixteen miles farther 
they changed again and we arrived at Waiouru 
just after dark. 

The weather was quite fine the next morning 
but rather chilly. We had a fine view of a snow 
covered mountain a long distance from the hotel. 
We had a terrible ride of forty-four miles from 
Lake Taupo through a desolate and unsettled 
country in an open wagon to this place. 

We left Waiouru for Wellington on January 
10th. The cars were quite good but rather nar- 
row. We stopped at Palmerston North a short 
time. It is situated on a fine plain in the midst 
of an excellent farming district eighty-seven 
miles north of Wellington. There was a McCor- 
mick binder at the railway station at that place. 
I met a young man there and he told me that he 
had driven a McCormick binder on his father's 
farm. They had also used the Massey-Harris 
binder but they liked the McCormick best. Some 
Osborne binders were also used. We passed many 
acres of New Zealand flax. They seemed to be 



32 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

cutting some of it green and were hauling it to 
the mill. At some places along the railway they 
were digging potatoes, cutting oats and making 
hay. 

We arrived at Wellington before dark and in 
the evening I called upon the editor of the Times. 
He gave me a note introducing me to Sir Joseph 
George Ward, the Premier. 

Wellington, the capital of the Dominion, is 
situated upon a fine harbor at the south end of 
North Island. There is a fixed white light at 
Pencarow Head on the east side of the entrance 
to the harbor at a height of three hundred and 
twenty-two feet. It is visible at sea for twenty- 
five miles. The seat of government was removed 
to this place from Auckland in 1865 on account 
of its central position. The city contains some 
first class public buildings, among which might 
be mentioned the Public Trust Building, the Gen- 
eral Post Office, the Government Life Insurance 
Offices, the Government Printing Office, the Gov- 
ernment Railway Office and the Public Library. 

The Zoological Gardens at Newton Park are 
well worth visiting. They contain many beauti- 
ful birds of all colors and some of the strangest 
kinds of animals, among which were a bushtailed 
wallaby, a catlike monkey, and a lace monitor (a 
lizard). My brother and I had a big climb to 
the top of Mount Victoria, which is about eight 
hundred feet high. It gives one a fine view of 



NEW ZEALAND 33 

Wellington and the harbor, but not so magnifi- 
cent as the view from Mount Eden at Auckland. 

I called at the Premier's office but did not 
meet him as he was holding a cabinet meeting, 
but his secretary gave me a dozen or more copies 
of "Parliamentary Debates," which is the official 
report of the proceedings in the legislative coun- 
cil and house of representatives in the Parlia- 
ment of the Dominion. He also gave me the New 
Zealand official year book for 1910. It is a book 
of more than nine hundred pages, full of valu- 
able information. The secretary was very cour- 
teous and urged me to call again, but want of 
time prevented my doing so. 

On January 11th at eight p. m. we left 
Wellington for Lyttleton on the Steamer Maori 
promptly on tim,e. In fact, it is said that this 
boat is never a minute late. It was a very fine 
boat used almost exclusively for passenger traffic. 

The governor, the Right Honorable William 
Lee, the Premier, Sir Joseph George Ward, and 
other members of the government were among 
the passengers. 

We arrived at Lyttleton at seven a. m. on the 
12th. The government party was met upon our 
arrival by two special cars. They were on a tour 
of the South Island so as to be present at Inver- 
cargill on the 14th when the first ground would 
be broken for the building of tram car lines at 



34 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

that place. Soon after our arrival at Lyttleton 
we left for Christchurch, which is only seven 
miles away. It is the capital of the Canterbury 
District. It has some fine public buildings. The 
city is surprisingly English in its appearance and 
surroundings. 

On the way from Christchurch to Dunedin we 
saw many fine residences along the coast and 
some good bathing places. Dunedin is said to be 
a Scotch city as it was settled by people from 
Scotland. While at the city of Dunedin we 
stopped at the Leviathan Hotel. 

In walking along one of the main streets of 
Dunedin I noticed a McCormick binder within a 
building. We stepped inside and saw two ma- 
chinists putting up another one. I inquired for 
the proprietor and was referred to the office 
where we met F. W. Jones, an American, who 
used to be a citizen of Iowa but who now repre- 
sented the International Harvesting Machine 
Company of America in New Zealand with head- 
quarters at Christchurch. He left Chicago in 
November, 1908. He was much pleased to see 
us and showed us the different farm implements 
in the warehouse, among which were a Deering 
binder and a mower. Upon making inquiries in 
regard to the sale of other American binders, we 
were informed that the International Company 
sell only the McCormick and the Deering at this 
place. Being in the presence of the general agent 



NEW ZEALAND 35 

of the International Harvesting Company of 
America and with the McCormick and Deering 
machines around about us, we could scarcely 
realize that we were more than nine thousand 
miles away from home. 

We were at Invercargill on January 14th 
when the first ground was broken for the build- 
ing of tram car lines. Seventy-five thousand 
pounds (about three hundred and seventy-five 
thousand dollars) had been voted for that pur- 
pose. Speeches were made by the Governor, the 
Premier, and the Mayor. It was an enthusiastic 
gathering and great predictions were made in 
regard to the future of the £lace. Invercargill 
is a city of about twelve thousand inhabitants, 
and it seems strange to an American that no pro- 
vision had been made for street cars, or tram 
cars as they call them, until this time. 

New Zealand was formerly called a colony, 
but since September, 1907, by Royal Proclama- 
tion it is now known as the Dominion of New 
Zealand. The main islands of the Dominion are 
the North, the South and Stewart Islands, but 
there are many others of less note. The govern- 
ment of New Zealand is entirely distinct and 
separate from Australia. It has a governor ap- 
pointed by the King of Great Britain to repre- 
sent the crown, but he does not meddle with the 
local affairs of the country. The people of New 
Zealand are proud of the mother country, and it 



36 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

is their boast that every man, woman and child 
would defend her against any other country in 
the world. They proved their loyalty in the re- 
cent war with South Africa by sending to the 
front many of their best men, and I have seen 
several monuments which were dedicated to the 
brave New Zealanders who fell in that struggle. 

The Dominion is not large, being less than 
one-half the size of the state of Texas, and it 
contains only a trifle more than one million in- 
habitants, but the enthusiastic New Zealander is 
of the opinion that his country when fully de- 
veloped will sustain a population of thirty mil- 
lions; probably fifteen or twenty millions would 
be nearer the mark. We visited the four largest 
cities of New Zealand, but they all combined con- 
tain only a little more than one-half the popula- 
tion of Cleveland, Ohio. 

The law making body is composed of the 
legislative council, or upper house, and a lower 
house called the house of representatives. The 
council is composed of forty-two members, two 
of whom are Native Chiefs representing the 
native population. The members of the council 
are appointed by the Governor and hold their 
office for seven years; formerly their term was 
during life. The house of representatives is com- 
posed of eighty members, including four natives. 
They are elected by the voters in the different 



NEW ZEALAND 37 

districts, and hold their office for the term of 
three years. 

New Zealand is one of the most socialistic 
countries in the world. In addition to the post 
office, the telegraph, the telephone and the rail- 
way, the government owns and is operating two 
or three large coal mines. The land tax is as- 
sessed on the unimproved value of the land so 
that there is an entire exemption of improve- 
ments on the land from taxation. There is also a 
graduated land tax in force, having as its object 
the division of large estates into smaller ones. 
The government is also buying some large estates 
and dividing them up into small parcels and then 
renting them or selling them to those who wish 
to occupy them. 

The people of New Zealand make their own 
laws, including the tariff. They have had some 
sort of an old age pension law since 1878. In 
1908 the amount for old age pensions was in- 
creased, so that now (1911) the first qualifica- 
tion is that the applicant must have reached the 
age of sixty-five years. There are other qualifica- 
tions and restrictions, and if there is no legal 
cause for deductions each applicant will receive 
an annual pension of twenty-six pounds (about 
one hundred and twenty-six dollars). 

While New Zealand is a colony in name, it 
seems like a republic in fact, and the people are 



38 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

as free to manage their local affairs as any other 
people in the world. But notwithstanding all 
this, it has its labor troubles, and it is not true 
now as formerly to say that New Zealand is a 
country without strikes. With all of its state 
socialism and all of its excellent provisions for 
the laboring man and with a government in sym- 
pathy with labor, yet there have been several 
strikes recently and the labor problem seems to 
be as big a problem in New Zealand as it is in 
the United States. 

While in New Zealand I interviewed a great 
many people in regard to government ownership 
of the telegraph, the telephone and the railway, 
and they were unanimously of the opinion that 
government ownership, with all of its faults, is 
better for the people than private ownership, but 
in regard to government ownership of the land 
and the coal mines there was a difference of opin- 
ion. 

The people are kind and congenial and pleased 
to furnish information. In Auckland the writer 
met a very intelligent physician, in fact, he was 
the visiting physician of the Auckland Hospital. 
He said that in his opinion in a very few years 
all of the English speaking people in the world 
would be united under one government and would 
have a president or a king — it did not matter 
what we called him, as he would be only a figure- 
head. 



NEW ZEALAND 39 

In July, 1908, the United States Navy on its 
tour of the world called at Auckland, and many 
people from all parts of New Zealand came to 
Auckland to celebrate the event. The soldiers 
made a good impression on the people, and they 
were unanimously of the opinion that they were 
a credit to our country. 

The climate of New Zealand is so mild that 
the grass is green during the entire year, which 
makes the country well suited for grazing pur- 
poses. According to the government report on 
April 30, 1910, there were nearly twenty-four 
million sheep in the Dominion, and that would 
make more than twenty sheep for every man, 
woman and child in the country. Wool is the 
important product of New Zealand. The annual 
value of the wool exported amounts to nearly one- 
third of the entire- value of all the domestic ar- 
ticles exported. New Zealand has an excellent 
climate for all-around agricultural purposes. In- 
deed, it may be said that the high average yields 
of grain obtained are due more to the climatic 
conditions than to the extraordinary fertility of 
the soil. 

When my brother and I were in New Zealand 
in 1911, they were in the midst of their harvest 
season, which takes place in January, and we 
saw many excellent fields of wheat, oats and 
grass and some barley fields. Some of the wheat 
fields were very heavy; in fact, the heaviest that 



40 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

I ever saw, and no doubt they would produce from 
forty to fifty bushels per acre and perhaps more. 
This is an excellent farming district, said to be 
the "best in the world," and known as the Can- 
terbury Plains. The average yield of wheat for 
the whole of New Zealand is often from thirty to 
thirty-five bushels per acre and sometimes the 
yield is even greater than that. Want of time 
prevented our stopping off at Ashburton on our 
way to Dunedin to visit John Grigg's farm ten or 
twelve miles away. He is said to be one of the 
largest and best general farmers in New Zealand. 
He uses from twenty to twenty-five grain bind- 
ers on his farm. It is said that he uses them 
a season or two and then sells them for what they 
will bring and buys new ones. 

Wellington is considered one of the stormiest 
towns south of the equator, but when we were 
there it was quiet and pleasant. The stormiest 
weather we met with in New Zealand was on a 
Sunday afternoon at Invercargill, when it blew 
a perfect gale and the dust would fill our eyes to 
our great discomfort. 

On Monday morning, January 16th, the gov- 
ernment party left Invercargill for the north in 
a special car and my brother and I left that place 
soon afterwards for Bluff, a short distance away, 
to take the steamer Manuka for Hobart and Mel- 
bourne. Bluff seems to be a flat place, but there 
is a high hill or bluff near by from which it gets 



NEW ZEALAND 41 

its name. We secured our tickets for this trip 
at Christchurch so as to be sure of getting berths. 
We went on board of the steamer about noon 
and were soon informed by the purser that this 
boat on its way to Hobart would call at Milford 
Sound and that this would be the first trip of the 
season to the Sound. The steamer left Bluff 
about five p. m. and arrived at the Sound about 
seven-thirty the next morning. The coast with 
its inlets looked fine for many miles before we 
reached the Sound. We were very fortunate to 
have an opportunity to see the noted Milford 
Sound. The ship had to make a trip there with 
some provisions and to take on one or two pas- 
sengers. The entrance to the Sound is not more 
than one-half mile wide and it is through a wind- 
ing path, so to speak, so that when the boat ap- 
proaches it, it seems as if it would run into the 
rocks, and after we are in the entrance a short 
distance we were rockbound and could not see 
out upon the ocean. Lofty rocks covered with 
small evergreens down to the water's edge lined 
either side part of the way. On one side a short 
distance from the shore is Mitre Peak with its 
barren, rocky head, more than five thousand feet 
above us, and on the other side is Pembroke 
Glacier, more than six thousand feet high, cov- 
ered with ice and snow supposed to be from two 
to three hundred feet deep. The rocks go 
straight down into the water so that the boat 



42 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

would strike the shore before it would touch the 
rocks beneath. This Sound is eight miles long 
and the upper end of it is more than a mile wide. 
It is said that its depth at its entrance is from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, while 
at its upper end it reaches the enormous depth 
of more than twelve hundred and fifty feet. The 
surveyor-general of New Zealand was a fellow 
passenger and gave me an excellent map of Fiord 
County, including Milford Sound. 

Of all the numerous sounds that indent the 
southwest coast of New Zealand, this, while not 
the largest, is much the most picturesque. We 
arrived at the upper end of the Sound about 
eight-thirty in the morning and had a fine view 
of the mountains and waterfalls while the ship 
discharged a little cargo. The ship was then 
turned and in a short time we were out upon 
the ocean on our way to Hobart. 

New Zealand is a small country, yet for its 
size it has perhaps more variation of climate and 
more natural curiosities than any other country 
in the world. Some other countries have hot 
springs, high mountains, icy glaciers, peculiar 
birds and ferns without number, but the tourist 
must travel over a greater extent of country to 
see them than is required here. 



CHAPTER IV 

HOBART TO SYDNEY 

WE arrived at Hobart about midnight on 
the 19th and in the morning we 
learned that the boat could not leave 
for Melbourne before eight at night. After ar- 
ranging for a twenty-two mile drive to leave Ho- 
bart at two-fifteen p. m., we visited the museum 
and art gallery. Among the interesting sights 
in the museum we saw a specimen of the bird 
without feathers, and also the egg of the aepy- 
ornis, an extinct bird. The egg was at least from 
twelve to fourteen inches long and about six or 
eight inches in diameter. The library contained 
some good books but it was small. We took a 
stroll through Franklin Park and saw a tree 
planted on the day of the Prince of Wales's mar- 
riage to Princess Alexandra to commemorate the 
event. We took a trip on the top of a tram car 
to the Cascades. It was a nice ride and the city 
looked fine from the top of the car. We then 
went to the government tourist office to take the 
twenty-two mile trip on a tallyho. It began to 
rain, but twenty of us tourists started on the trip. 
Soon after we started it rained very hard. After 

(43) 



44 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

we had gone about two miles we persuaded the 
driver to let us get off and go back, which most 
of us did, making use of a tram car for our re- 
turn to the city. We called at the government 
tourist office, and every one of us that could not 
go with the party the next day received his money 
back and those that could go were told to be 
ready for the trip. 

Hobart is a fine little city of about forty 
thousand inhabitants and is the capital of Tas- 
mania, which is one of the states of the Austral- 
ian Commonwealth. Tasmania is noted for its 
fine fruit. Thousands of cases of apples are 
shipped to England every year. About ten o'clock 
p. m. we left for Melbourne, Australia. The voy- 
age was a very pleasant one, and as there were 
many Australian tourists on board I secured 
much valuable information in regard to woman 
suffrage, the labor problem, government owner- 
ship of public utilities and kindred subjects. 

One of the most interesting interviews during 
the trip was one I had with Attorney General 
Holman of New South Wales. He is one of the 
frankest men I ever met in public life. He said 
that government ownership of the telephone, the 
telegraph and the railway was a success, but land 
ownership since the great drought of several 
years ago was very unsatisfactory. I also inter- 
viewed him in regard to the Peter Bowling affair. 
He said that Mr. Bowling was the leader of the 



HOBART TO SYDNEY 45 

coal strike, that he was very radical, that he 
violated the law, that it was right to punish him, 
but that his punishment was too severe*, that 
others were punished when he was and that their 
terms had expired before the election in October 
last, so that when he became attorney general, 
thinking that Mr. Bowling had suffered suffici- 
ently, he released him. Many people were of the 
opinion that the government did wrong to re- 
lease Mr. Bowling, but I learned from other 
sources that there was a great public clamor for 
his release and that if he had not been set free 
his continuance in prison might have caused a 
riot. 

The voyage from Bluff to Melbourne is usu- 
ally considered a rough one as some parts of it 
are in what are called the Roaring Forties, but 
on this trip the sea was fairly smooth. We ar- 
rived at Melbourne at eight a. m. on January 
22d and went to the Victoria Coffee House on 
Collins Street. Melbourne is the capital of the 
state of Victoria, and contains about one-half 
million people. The Federal Parliament of Aus- 
tralia will hold its meetings here until a seat of 
government is provided for the commonwealth. 
Soon after our arrival at the hotel we met a re- 
tired Presbyterian minister more than eighty 
years of age, and upon inquiry in regard to 
churches he directed us to the Wesleyan Metho- 
dist Church on Lonsdale Street. We attended 



46 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

services there and enjoyed some excellent music 
and a first class sermon. At the close of the ser- 
mon it was announced that Mr. Verran, the 
Premier of South Australia, would give a lecture 
in the church at three o'clock p. m. on social re- 
forms. The church was a fine one and quite 
large. We attended the lecture in the afternoon. 
Perhaps fifteen hundred were present. The min- 
ister of the church presided, and there was an 
interesting song service before the speaker was 
introduced. The songs were such as I have heard 
many a time in America. The lecture was quite 
good but Mr. Verran was very radical on some 
points and ridiculed the church a great deal. He 
thought laboring men were foolish and that they 
should not be ruled by capital. He accused the 
church as caring more for capital than for labor. 
I think he was honest and sincere. The lecture 
was very interesting to me. He scored the 
church for not doing its duty. He said the 
church's mission was not to save men from hell 
hereafter but to help them here. I quite agree 
with him. He said in order to have a good man 
he must be well fed, well clothed and well housed. 
Melbourne is a fine city with wide streets. 
They are almost too wide. Many of them have 
a row of shrubs or flowers along the center with 
traffic on either side. On Monday we visited the 
library and the museum, which are very fine. 
The attendant at the library said that it was the 



HOB ART TO SYDNEY 47 

best one south of the line (equator) . After vis- 
iting several other places of interest which will 
be referred to later, we took the evening express 
for Sydney. We changed cars at Albury on the 
state line between Victoria and New South Wales 
and arrived at Sydney about noon on the 24th. 



CHAPTER V 

SYDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 

WEJ made our headquarters at Sydney for 
a little more than three weeks and 
while there made several excursions 
out into the country. One of these interesting 
trips was to the town of Berry, about eighty 
miles south of Sydney, for the purpose of visit- 
ing the estate of the late Sir John Hay. We 
arrived at Berry in the evening, and the next 
morning we hired a trap and drove to the Home- 
stead. Upon our arrival at the Homestead I in- 
quired for the manager and was shown the ac- 
countant's office. I soon made my wants known 
and then the accountant, Mr. Robertson, said, 
"We will put up your horse." He called one of 
the men who took care of the horse and we went 
on a jaunt to look around the premises. We were 
shown some of the dairy cows and the dairy- 
barns, but these were not in good shape as ar- 
rangements had been made to dispose of the 
estate and nothing has been done to keep it up 
since the death of the proprietor, which occurred 
several years ago. 

The large house and surroundings called the 

(48) 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 49 

Homestead put me in mind of a large English 
estate, and in its former days must have been 
very fine. There was a large greenhouse con- 
nected with it, together with a large and well 
kept flower garden. In the mansion was a large 
reception room with a billiard table, a large din- 
ing room and a room containing a library, said 
to be worth twenty-five thousand dollars, but I 
think the estimate was too high. 

A small building near by contained an audi- 
ence room for school, church and social purposes. 
It would seat one hundred or more persons. In 
an early day they had a saw mill on the estate 
and sawed their own lumber, and they even dug 
a canal about two miles long to get a better out- 
let to the ocean for a small river that runs 
through the estate. They made their own book- 
cases, did their own blacksmithing and all their 
wants were provided for by the people connected 
with the estate. 

The accountant did not know how large the 
estate was in its earlier days, but it contained 
many thousand acres and was founded by David 
Berry, an unmarried man who lived to be more 
than ninety years old, and to whose memory 
there is a monument in the village of Berry. Mr. 
Robertson, the accountant, was an Englishman. 
I told him that he would make a first class Yan- 
kee, which amused him very much. He was very 

4 



50 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

genial and offered us refreshments, /Which we 
declined with thanks. Our horse was hitched to 
the trap and we were soon on our way back to 
Berry. On our way back we visited the govern- 
ment breeding farm, called the New South Wales 
Stud Farm. It is situated about two miles from 
Berry. The farm contains about three hundred 
acres of land and is a part of the Hay estate 
mentioned ' above. The government has had it 
rented for the past ten years but has now made 
arrangements to buy it. The farm is devoted 
almost exclusively to the purpose of improving 
the cattle of New South Wales. The government 
will not sell its best stock at any price, but it is 
kept for the benefit of the farmer. The govern- 
ment will pay the freight and send a male thor- 
oughbred to any reliable farmer within one hun- 
dred miles of Berry at a nominal price and he 
can use it and return it to the farm at Berry 
when through with it. They have eight different 
kinds of thoroughbred cattle on the farm : Short- 
horns, Guernseys, Jerseys, Ayrshires, Holsteins, 
Red Poll, Kerries and Dexter Kerries; besides a 
dozen or more bulls, we saw sixty or seventy first 
class cows and heifers of different breeds worth 
from seventy-five to one hundred pounds apiece, 
and one very pretty cow that the Scotch Commis- 
sioners who visited the farm a short time ago, 
said was worth one thousand guineas, or more 
than five thousand dollars. 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 51 

Mr. Quirk, the manager, took great pains to 
show us about the farm, and we saw most of 
the stock. Mr. Quirk is an excellent judge of 
cattle. 

Upon our arrival at Berry we ordered a four 
o'clock dinner and were soon ready to return to 
Sydney. Between Sydney and Berry is one cJ the 
best coal fields in Australia, and much of the way 
the railway is lined with coke furnaces. While 
at Sydney we got permission to visit the Hawkes- 
bury Agricultural College near the town of Rich- 
mond on the Hawkesbury River, about thirty- 
eight miles from Sydney. Attached to the col- 
lege is a farm of thirty-five hundred and fifty- 
one acres, of which usually about one thousand 
acres are under crops and the remainder is used 
for grazing purposes. 

On January 31st, the day arranged for our 
visit, we were met at the railway station and 
driven to the college, where we were soon pre- 
sented to Mr. Potts, the Principal, who took us 
in charge. The bedrooms, study rooms and large 
dining room were visited. They were all plain 
but neat and clean. The college will accomodate 
two hundred and fifty pupils, but at this time only 
about two hundred were enrolled. The course of 
study is as elaborate and practical as in similar 
institutions anywhere; in fact, a gentleman at 
the agricultural department in Sydney, when we 
were making arrangements to visit the college, 



52 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

said that it was the best in the world. I jokingly- 
replied, "It would be hard to make a Yankee be- 
lieve that." The boys must be up in the morning 
at five o'clock and every one must be in bed not 
later than ten-thirty p. m. Each student has a 
bedroom to himself, and Principal Potts said that 
the plan worked better than having two in each 
room. He said he had boys here from sixteen 
to forty years old. The management has com- 
plete control of the electric lights in each bed- 
room and they are all put out at ten-thirty p. m. 
If a boy breaks the rules and stays out late at 
night, he is not reprimanded but give a little 
harder work to do and then he is soon glad to 
get in early. Gambling and betting are abso- 
lutely prohibited. 

We next inspected the orange, peach, apricot 
and plum orchards, of which there were about 
forty acres, including four acres of grapes. 

A little after eleven-thirty a. m. we repaired 
to the dining room and had lunch. Mr. Potts, 
the Principal, sat at the head of the table and 
about one hundred and fifty students sat down 
with us. Some of the boys had not yet returned 
from the holiday vacation. 

After lunch we visited the dairy and saw the 
cheese and butter making department. In the 
storerooms connected with those departments we 
saw some fine samples of butter and cheese. A 
cheese for local consumption weighs twenty 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 53 

pounds, but those for export weigh eighty pounds 
each. They make an excellent grade of butter 
and ship some of it to London, England. They 
keep about one hundred first class cows to fur- 
nish milk for the dairy. 

We saw their tomato culture and had some 
excellent ones for lunch. They have dry houses 
for drying peaches and other kinds of fruit. 
They have plots of many different kinds of grass 
which they are testing in order to secure the 
best. They are also making a thorough test of 
the different kinds of wheat. 

The soil of the Hawkesbury College Farm is 
sandy and naturally not very productive. At 
three p. m. we had lunch and after resting awhile 
we were taken to Richmond in time for the train 
for Sydney. I think Principal Potts is an ex- 
cellent manager. My brother and I were much 
pleased with the many courtesies shown us. 

I cannot resist the temptation to say again 
and again that Sydney has the finest harbor I 
ever saw, and the tourist who visits that city 
and does not take at least two or three fine trips 
will regret missing the opportunity. When we 
were in Sydney in December, 1910, we took a 
trip across the harbor to Manly Beach, in Janu- 
ary following we took a trip from Circular Quay 
through the harbor and up the Parramatta River, 
and on February 2d, 1911, we took what is called 
the Tourist's Harbor Trip, covering about sixty 



54 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

miles of excellent harbor scenery. We left Cir- 
cular Quay at ten in the morning and passed 
many interesting places, among which were Mill- 
er's Point, Darling Harbor, Lane Cove River and 
some nice views on the Parramatta River. We 
got off the boat and stopped for lunch at Cor- 
rey's Gardens and then returned to the wharf 
from which we started. At two p. m. we went 
on another trip, returning to Lane Cove River. 
We passed Greenwich, Gore Bay, Farm Cove, the 
Botanical Gardens, then crossing near The Heads 
just inside the harbor, then to North Harbor and 
to Middle Harbor, and then returned to Circular 
Quay, arriving there at five p. m. It was an ex- 
cellent outing, all for two shillings, about fifty 
cents. 

On Friday, February 3d, we went on a fine 
motor car trip planned by Mr. Jones, Private 
Secretary to Attorney General Holman. Mr. 
Holman intended to go with us on the trip but 
just before we started some unexpected public 
business prevented his going, so the party was 
composed of Mr. Jones, Mr. Garlick, an officer 
connected with the public works of Sydney, my 
brother and myself, and the driver. 

We went to Parramatta, which is about four- 
teen miles from Sydney on the Parramatta River, 
and saw the oldest church in Australia. We 
crossed an old stone bridge at this place which 
was built by the convicts when this was a penal 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 55 

settlement. We saw some very old houses as this 
is the oldest settlement in the Commonwealth. 
We saw a monument erected to the memory of 
the soldiers who fell in the recent war with South 
Africa. We also saw a monument erected to the 
memory of the Governor's wife who was killed 
in a runaway accident many years ago when the 
Governor made his home in Parramatta; since 
then the Governor's house has been at Sydney. 
The trip from Sydney to Parramatta was very 
interesting. From Parramatta we went to 
Hornsby and had a lunch and then returned on 
the opposite side of the Parramatta River to the 
ferry for teams and motor cars. The motor car 
was taken across the ferry to Circular Quay and 
after we crossed the ferry we were taken to the 
post office in Sydney, arriving there about six 
p. m. 

On the trip we passed through an excellent 
fruit country which produces oranges, lemons, 
passion fruit, peaches, plums and grapes. We 
stopped at several of the fruit farms on the trip. 
One fruit grower told us that citron fruits were 
the most profitable. 

Monday, February 6th, we left Sydney for 
Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. It is a town 
of about three thousand inhabitants, but often 
there are six or seven thousand tourists in the 
town at one time. The place is full of boarding 
houses. Upon our arrival at Katoomba we called 



56 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

at a boarding house known as the Hill Side, but 
it was crowded. After calling at two or three 
other places without success we finally secured 
rooms at a boarding house called Temora. It 
rained very hard the next morning after we ar- 
rived at Katoomba and we did not start for the 
Falls until nearly noon. The Falls are very 
pretty, especially the one called the Bridal Veil. 
In flowing over the rocks, the water spreads out 
in a wide thin sheet, which gives it the appear- 
ance of a veil. There are many pretty places in 
the valley and among the mountains.' It is said 
that these are called the Blue Mountains because 
of the pretty blue tint upon them on a clear day. 
The Three Sister Rocks and Orphan Rock were 
pretty. Some bushes with red tops are called 
Christmas Trees. The weather at Katoomba had 
been very bad for four or five weeks before our 
arrival and continued wet all the time my 
brother and I were there, and this had a tendency 
to somewhat mar the visit. 

On February 9th we visited the Agricultural 
Experiment Farm at Wagga Wagga. It is one 
of the best farms for experimental purposes in 
New South Wales, if not in all Australia. We 
got a permit from the Under Minister of Agricul- 
ture to visit this farm. The manager of the farm 
was notified of our coming and we were met at 
the railway station and driven to the farm, about 
four miles away. The farm contains more than 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 57 

three thousand acres. Among other things it is 
devoted to grain raising, sheep breeding, dairy- 
ing and fruit growing. They have nine distinct 
breeds of sheep on the farm, and they are proud 
of the results obtained by careful breeding. 
They also practice cross-breeding for certain 
purposes. 

The dairy department was quite interesting 
and the students are taught cheese making as 
well as butter making. Each one brands his own 
article so that there is no question as to who is 
responsible for the different results. 

The manager was very busy with the morn- 
ing mail upon its arrival, so he asked us to ex- 
cuse him and then arranged a visit for us over 
the farm with the foreman. It was an amusing 
as well as an interesting trip. 

My brother and I went in a gig and the fore- 
man rode on ahead on horseback. I was the 
driver of the gig. The foreman's horse went on 
a canter most of the time and we would follow. 
In this manner we visited the different paddocks. 
We did this from paddock to paddock until noon. 
On our return tour of inspection we saw a thresh- 
ing machine at work on the farm. I suggested 
that we would like to stop and see it. The fore- 
man said "All right," and he cared for our horse 
while we inspected the threshing. 

They were threshing wheat with a small ma- 
chine with a straw carrier instead of a "blower", 



58 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

and the whole outfit was run by an eight horse 
power steam engine. Six men were on the stack 
taking care of the straw. I climbed on the wheat 
stack and could scarcely resist the temptation to 
take a hand in the work. The wheat was nice 
and plump but came from the machine very- 
dirty. I was told that it all had to be recleaned. 

We drove seven or eight miles on our tour of 
inspection and saw eight or nine herds of excel- 
lent sheep, some cattle and a few horses, and re- 
turned to the house in time for lunch. 

The manager led the way to the dining room 
where we enjoyed the plain but wholesome food 
placed before us. We finished our lunch by par- 
taking of some excellent watermelon that was 
raised on the farm. 

After lunch the manager took us in hand and 
we visited the hog yards and the poultry and 
horse departments. They prefer the Suffox 
breed of horses to work on the farm. After 
looking over the stables we visited the cheese and 
butter making departments and then the dry 
houses where apricots, peaches and prunes are 
prepared for market. I presume that it is un- 
necessary for me to say that we sampled some 
of these products. 

We next went out to inspect about ninety-five 
acres of orchards and vineyards. It was a pleas- 
ant task. Plums of all kinds were around about 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 59 

us and we were not only asked to partake of the 
luscious fruit but we were urged to do so. 

The date plum particularly suited my palate. 
The grapes were next inspected, and you would 
be surprised to see the immense bunches on many 
of the vines. 

The manager was not only so persistent that 
we should help ourselves to the excellent fruit, 
but he was so determined to help us that if it 
had not been for our kind but determined "No, 
thank you" the result might have been disastrous. 

The orchards contained apricots, peaches, 
cherries, olives — large quantities of them for 
olive oil — almonds and many other varieties of 
fruit. Comparisons are odious, so they say, but 
this is certainly one of the finest fruit farms in 
the world. 

It soon became time to leave, and after a 
very enjoyable day we were driven to Wagga in 
time for the train to Sydney, but as we were 
tired we stopped at Harden for the night and 
took the early morning train for Sydney, arriv- 
ing there about one p. m., February 10th. 

At the experiment farm at Wagga a specialty 
is also made of growing wheat for seed, and of 
breeding swine and dairy stock. About one-third 
of this farm is under crops. Some of the experi- 
ment plots have yielded forty bushels of wheat 
per acre, but the field yield on the farm has never 



60 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

exceeded twenty-seven bushels per acre. The 
olive oil produced on this farm brings double the 
price of ordinary olive oil because of its known 
purity. The farmers at this time of the year 
were rushing their wheat to market and at many 
of the stations between Sydney and Wagga 
Wagga there were great piles of wheat in rough 
sacks. Most of these piles had no covering what- 
ever over them. All of the wheat is shipped in 
sacks and not in bulk, as most of it is in the 
United States. On our way to the farm we 
passed many large wagons loaded with wheat. 
These wagons were drawn by from four to eight 
horses or by four, five, six and even seven yoke 
of oxen. In fact, just before we left Wagga we 
saw one wagon with a ten horse team and an- 
other with nine yoke of oxen pulling it. It was 
an odd sight. 

While in Sydney my brother and I made sev- 
eral calls at the department of agriculture and 
the officials connected with that department were 
pleased to give us all the information that we de- 
sired. We were furnished with many official re- 
ports and bulletins printed by the department of 
agriculture of New South Wales, showing what 
that state is doing for the farmer. The Agricul- 
tural Gazette, a neat pamphlet of nearly one hun- 
dred pages, is the best publication issued by the 
department. It is published monthly in shape 
for binding at the end of the year if so desired. 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 61 

Among the many articles published in the Janu- 
ary issue, is one entitled "Orchard Notes" by W. 
J. Allen, and the "World's Wool" by W. H. P. 
Cherry, both of which are quite interesting. It 
also contains some very good articles by other 
experts. The Gazette contains some fine illustra- 
tions, among which is a photograph of a very 
pretty three year old Rome Beauty apple tree 
with fruit fairly thick on the main limbs and 
very large. 

The department also publishes farmers' bul- 
letins similar to those published in the United 
States. Bulletin No. 1, entitled Farmers' Sheep, 
contains a thorough discussion of sheep and wool. 
It is very interesting and made the more so be- 
cause it contains a dozen or more fine illustra- 
tions. No. 37, entitled Lucerne, compiled by J. 

E. O'Grady, Editor Agricultural Gazette of New 
South Wales, is an excellent pamphlet of more 
thon one hundred pages, and I was pleased to 
notice a quotation from the book of alfalfa by 

F. D. Coburn of Kansas, as well as some other 
American references. There are quotations also 
from some of our bulletins, to all of which due 
credit is given. 

The Government Tourist Bureau of Sydney 
was another department of the state government 
that it was a pleasure to do business with. In 
fact, the officers were always ready to furnish 
information whether we purchased tickets or 



62 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

not. The Bureau has fine offices in Challis House 
just opposite the general post office. 

Sydney is a hustling city, notwithstanding its 
narrow and crooked streets. It has an immense 
trade, both domestic and foreign. It is a sport- 
loving city and the best plays are well supported 
by its citizens. In February, 1911, "Our Miss 
Gibbs," "The Whip," and "The Girl from Rec- 
tor's" were the leading plays. The first men- 
tioned play had entered on its twenty-first week 
before we left the city. Sydney has some first 
class church buildings, as well as playhouses, and 
there is a good opportunity for its citizens as well 
as for the tourist to hear some' first class sermons. 
While in Sydney I always attended church on 
Sunday forenoon and on Sunday afternoon I 
would take a stroll through the Domain, a park 
of about one hundred acres right in the center of 
the city. Sydney has thousands of acres in parks, 
but the Domain is the most popular of all the 
pleasure grounds. It is generally full of people 
on Sunday, when anyone who wishes can speak 
on any subject if he can get people to listen to 
him. During my visits to the Domain I listened 
for a short time to more than twenty different 
speeches. Among the number were only two 
women, one the wife of a colored doctor, who was 
helping him to advertise his business, and the 
other one was a Socialist. She said she had been 
a working woman — a domestic servant. She 



SIDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES 63 

had been deceived many times by reading adver- 
tisements of places to work and the advertise- 
ments were not true. She said what was needed 
the world over was "Socialization and not 
Nationalization." 

Some of the speakers were quite intelligent 
and very interesting. Some of them discussed 
Socialism, some talked religion; one speaker was 
an anti-evolutionist, one tried to prove that 
Christ was Esau, another would prove that 
Christ was not God, another was discussing some 
new theories of religion, a sect known as Chris- 
tadelphians. Some of the speakers were very 
bitter against the government. There was a Sal- 
vation Army meeting under a fig tree, and in 
another part of the Domain was an interesting 
Methodist meeting with a band of fifteen pieces. 
The singing and music were very good. One 
speaker attempted to prove that the millennium 
would take place soon in Australia. The speak- 
ing in the Domain on a Sunday afternoon is go- 
ing on in many different places at the same time, 
and it was a surprise to me that these meetings, 
were so quiet and that as a rule they created no 
disturbance whatever. 

Sydney has a very large town hall in which 
the city officials have their offices. It is so large 
that much of the space is rented to different per- 
sons for stores and shops. It also contains a 
large audience room in which is one of the larg- 



64 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

est organs in the world. It is said that the organ 
contains nine thousand pipes, some of which are 
thirty or forty feet in length and others very 
short and fine. My brother and I attended an 
organ recital by the city organist on February 
4th, consisting of eight or ten parts. The music 
was excellent as the city organist, Mr. Earnest 
Truman, was a noted musical expert. The city 
keeps an organist to play for -the people and 
every week one can attend a free concert, but on 
some occasions there is a slight charge. 



CHAPTER VI 

MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 

ON February 15th we left Sydney for Mel- 
bourne on the evening express. The 
train was crowded, but as we got on the 
cars nearly an hour before time to leave we had 
choice of compartments and seats. The night 
was long and rather tiresome, but everything 
passed off pleasantly. An Indian from the in- 
terior of India was a fellow passenger and sat 
next to me all night. He was very intelligent, 
and I had a long talk with him in regard to the 
missionaries in India. He said that the converts 
to Christianity in India were among the ignor- 
ant classes. 

We stopped for breakfast at Albury on the 
state line between New South Wales and Vic- 
toria and changed cars there and continued on 
our journey to Melbourne, where we arrived 
about one p. m. and stopped at the Federal 
Palace Hotel. On our way to Melbourne we saw 
great piles of wheat in the fields in sacks just as 
they were harvested several weeks before. 

On February 19th we bought return tickets 
by way of Bayswater, Fern Tree Gully, Bell- 

5 (65) 



66 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

grave, Paradise Valley, Emerald, Cockatoo to 
Gembrook and return. The scenery was very 
pretty after we passed Fern Tree Gully all the 
way to Gembrook. There was a very nice nurs- 
ery at Emerald. We changed cars at Upper Fern 
Tree Gully and rode upon a two-foot six-inch 
track to Gembrook, eighteen miles away. Some 
of the excursionists stopped at the most interest- 
ing stations along the way. Upon our arrival at 
Gembrook my brother and I crossed a field and 
took a stroll along the gully in the woods for 
nearly a mile. In this gully were the, finest kind 
of tree ferns. They were from a few feet to 
eighteen or twenty feet high and from six inches 
to twelve inches in diameter. They had bushy 
tops with the finest kind of leaves. Some of these 
fern leaves were five or six feet long and three 
or four feet broad and were made up of hun- 
dreds of tiny leaves. 

The woods were quite dense and there were 
many large eucalyptus trees on the banks of the 
gully. Many of these trees were at least four or 
five feet in diameter. We measured one that was 
a little more than seven feet in diameter. Some 
of them that were not more than one foot in 
diameter were tall and straight and it must have 
been seventy-five or eighty feet up to the first 
limb. There were some nice farms upon the hill. 

When we returned to Gembrook, which is a 
very small village, we saw a fine field of potatoes 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 67 

just in bloom. Wishing to get some reliable in- 
formation, I asked a man if he lived here. He 
said, "Yes, I am one of the big men of the town." 
I said, "Let us shake hands. I like a square out 
and out man even in a joke." I soon learned that 
his name was George Smith and that he was the 
proprietor of a small store at this place. He had 
some potatoes which he had just dug and wanted 
us to look at them. One sack of Peach Bloom 
were very nice, but the Carmen were not so good. 
He had four thousand acres of eucalyptus under- 
growth, some of which he cuts over and strips 
the leaves off and makes oil out of them and ships 
it to London. The oil is used for medicinal pur- 
poses. 

After a fine day's outing, we returned to Mel- 
bourne in the evening. Soon after our arrival in 
Melbourne from Sydney, I called on Attorney 
General Brown, whom my brother and I had met 
on our trip to New Zealand. He gave me a c'opy 
of the Victorian Year Book for the year 1909-10 
and requested his secretary to show me the Su- 
preme Court Room, which was not far from his 
office, and invited me to attend court there on 
February 20th, when the boundary dispute be- 
tween South Australia and Victoria would be on 
trial. On that morning I went to the court room 
early so as to become somewhat familiar with 
the surroundings before the lawyers and judges 
arrived. The full court is composed of five 



68 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

members, all of whom were present when court 
opened. The judges and all the lawyers con- 
nected with the case wore wigs and gowns. I 
remained in court all forenoon and was pleased 
to hear one of the judges refer to the constitu- 
tion of the United States. We all arose when the 
judges took their places on the bench but there 
was no formality either when the session was 
called to order or when it was dismissed. 

Having purchased tickets and secured sev- 
eral letters of introduction at the government 
tourist office on Collins Street, we left Melbourne 
February 24th for a round trip to Geelong, Bal- 
larat, Bendigo, Harcourt, Castlemaine, and back 
to Melbourne. We arrived at Geelong about one 
p. m. It is a seaport city containing about thirty 
thousand inhabitants. After dinner we took a 
long ride through the finest part of the city upon 
one of the omnibuses and passed Geelong Col- 
lege, a fine Episcopal Church and the Girl's High 
School. We also saw some very fine residences. 
We took a trip to Cardinia Park and saw a few 
animals. It was amusing to see the kangaroos 
jumping about on their hind feet. Geelong is a 
prosperous city in the state of Victoria. They 
were just beginning to put down their first tram 
car lines and expected to have them ready for 
use in a few months. We saw a young man 
hauling oaten chaff into the city. He said that he 
was getting two pounds per ton for it. The next 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 69 

morning before we left the city, we went down 
to the wharf and saw them loading a large freight 
boat for Sydney and Newcastle with chaff, oaten 
hay, potatoes and onions. The great bulk of the 
freight was chaff in sacks. I was struck with the 
fact that there were so many names similar to 
those in the United States, such as Carr, Brown, 
Young, Nash, Wells, etc. 

On the 25th, soon after leaving Geelong we 
saw a chaff cutting machine cutting oat sheaves 
into chaff. The grain for chaff is cut about one 
month before it is dead ripe, and when saved in 
first class condition it makes excellent feed. 

We arrived at Ballarat a little before noon 
and put up at the Provincial Hotel. After din- 
ner we called on Colonel Williams, the city clerk, 
and presented our letter of introduction. He told 
us of the places of interest that it would be well 
to visit, and then he requested an attendant to 
show us the way up into the tower of the city 
Hall, from which we got a splendid view of the 
city. Ballarat is known all over Australia as the 
"City of Statues," the "Golden City," "Beautiful 
Ballarat," and "Ballarat Beautiful." All of these 
designations fit the city well, but I think that 
Ballarat Beautiful is the most popular. The city 
has many nice streets, some of which are very 
interesting. Sturt Street is its main thorough- 
fare, said to be the "most magnificent in the 
southern hemisphere." It is one hundred and 



70 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ninety-eight feet wide. This street has beautiful 
flower gardens along its center for more than a 
mile, with a roadway on each side. In this street 
is a fine statue of Queen Victoria, one of Burns 
with his faithful dog at his feet, one of Thomas 
Moore, the Irish poet, a very fine one of the 
Biblical character Ruth, and a large bronze one 
of Peter Laylor, leader of the Insurgents at Eu- 
reka Stockade. Several other pieces of fine statu- 
ary are in this street. Mention, however, must 
be made of a fine monument dedicated "In honor 
of Australian soldiers who fought' in South 
Africa in 1902." It represents a soldier on horse- 
back assisting a wounded comrade to mount, so 
that he might make his escape from the enemy. 
It typifies devotion and courage on the battle- 
field. In our short stay at Ballarat, I enjoyed 
visiting this .street again and again. 

About two miles east of the post office is the 
monument that marks the site of the Eureka 
Stockade where the gold diggers' insurrection 
took place on Sunday morning, December 3, 1854. 
This outbreak was caused by the heavy tax or 
license levied on the miners, and as the police 
could not quell the disturbance they were assisted 
by the soldiers. When the soldiers appeared the 
insurrection was soon quelled. Four or five sol- 
diers were killed and about forty or fifty of the 
gold diggers lost their lives. Their leader, Peter 
Laylor, was wounded but he made his escape. A 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 71 

reward of two hundred pounds was offered for 
him, dead or alive, but he was protected by his 
friends and the reward was finally withdrawn. 
His wound resulted in the loss of his left arm. 
After this insurrection the tax was reduced and 
quiet" was restored. Strange to say, this leader 
of the insurrectionists later was made a member 
of the Victorian Parliament and finally became 
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria. 

Old Curiosity Shop is a place well worth see- 
ing. It used to be the home of an old bricklayer 
and he spent his leisure time after a hard day's 
work in making things of beauty out of the un- 
sightly rubbish round about, such as old teapot 
spouts, broken dishes, pieces of glass and other 
unsightly things. These things were arranged in 
artistic shapes on the fence, at the end of the 
cottage, around the flower beds, and even in some 
places inside the cottage. The place was very 
pretty. 

We went from Old Curiosity Shop to Golden 
Point, where a monument about twelve feet high 
marks the place where gold was first discovered 
at Ballarat, and on this monument are the words, 
"Gold discovered 1851." The monument stands 
at the side of the street and there is nothing un- 
usual about the place. A tram car line runs past 
the monument. 

The agricultural high school at this place is 
quite interesting. The boys are taught to use 



72 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

tools and the girls are instructed in cookery. We 
were shown through the workshops and inside 
the rooms where cooking was done. We visited 
a half dozen or more class rooms and then the 
manager showed us over the farm, which con- 
tains about eighty acres. It is a very poor farm, 
and of not much value for farming. The ground 
is not porous and it soon packs down very hard 
after it is plowed. They are thoroughly tile 
draining some of it and will add humus and lime 
in order to learn whether it can be made produc- 
tive at a profit. 

We visited the School of Mines and Mining. 
About five hundred pupils are enrolled. It is con- 
sidered one of the best schools of mines in the 
world. 

Lake Wendouree is one of the chief attrac- 
tions of Ballarat. It is an artificial body of water 
a little more than three miles in circumference, 
and is considered one of the finest fishing resorts 
in the State of Victoria. All around this lake is 
a beautiful walk culminating in the lawns and 
pleasure grounds of the Botanical Gardens. The 
trees, willows and bushes along its margin are 
pleasing to the eye. The black swans and other 
water fowls gliding over the lake add beauty to 
the scene. 

We attended the Regatta here on February 
25th. There were at least nine boats in the eight- 
oar race. Some of these boats were sixty-five 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 73 

feet long. There were many other races with 
smaller boats. There were running races and 
other sports. I never saw a more decorous holi- 
day crowd in my life. People from different 
parts of Australia attended this Regatta, and 
after the races many of the boats were sent away 
on the cars. We enjoyed a steamboat ride on 
this beautiful little lake. 

The city of Ballarat is justly proud of its 
Botanical Gardens as they are considered "the 
finest gardens in Australia," "a paradise of 
beauty," — and several other phrases are used by 
tourists to express their appreciation. The Gar- 
dens are planted with fine specimens of the choic- 
est ornamental trees, and a large fernery running 
the full width of the Gardens is filled with choice 
ferns, creepers, flowers and plants from many 
climes. The Statuary Pavilion containing "The 
Flight from Pompeii" and other notable marble 
carvings, is situated in the Gardens near the 
fernery. The "Flight from Pompeii" is a group 
representing a husband, his wife and infant 
child. The husband is trying to save his wife 
and child from the fiery eruptions of Mount 
Vesuvius. It was sculptured by Prospero Ben- 
zoni of Rome and is considered the finest piece 
of statuary in the southern hemisphere. 

Twelve marble statues presented to the city 
by one of its public spirited citizens are erected 
in different parts of the Gardens. In addition to 



74 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

these, the Gardens contain some other fine pieces 
of statuary. 

There are many other places of interest in 
Ballarat, but we must hasten on to Bendigo, 
which is the home of Senator J. H. McCall. 

Soon after our arrival at Bendigo we went to 
the town hall and presented our letter of intro- 
duction to the town clerk. He took us in charge 
and we visited the Fernery, Fine Arts Gallery 
and High School Building, after which he secured 
a permit for us to visit the Central Red, White 
and Blue Mine between eight and ten-thirty a. m. 
on March 1st, after which we met Senator J. H. 
McCall, a member of the Australian Parliament. 
Our visit with Senator McCall was very pleasant. 
He said that he had made two visits to the United 
States and was a member of the Dry Farming 
Congress that met at Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 
February, 1909. At the request of the president 
of the Dry Congress, Senator McCall presided 
nearly the entire time of the meeting. He made 
a report of its proceedings to the Parliament of 
the Commonwealth of Australia. Several months 
after we returned home Senator McCall sent us 
a copy of that report. It is well worth reading. 
I think it will have a tendency to still increase 
the good feeling that exists between the two 
countries. Senator McCall, who is interested in 
mines, gave each of us a fine specimen of ore 
containing gold. 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 75 

On March 1st we went to visit the Central 
Red, White and Blue gold mine but had to wait 
about one-half hour as the foreman was down 
with another party. When they came up we pre- 
sented our permit to visit the mine to the fore- 
man, who requested us to leave our coats and hats 
in the office. We pulled on overalls, put on over- 
shirts and caps and with the foreman descended 
the lift together. Then the foreman requested a 
miner to show us around. Each one of us car- 
ried a candle. We went through one passage 
more than one hundred and fifty feet long, then 
a short one, then up a little over rubbish where 
the passages were filled up and they were work- 
ing above. We saw some miners at work chisel- 
ing the quartz, some were working an air press- 
ure drill, and all seemed busy. By holding our 
candles near to the quartz, we could see small 
specks of gold in many places. The mine is more 
than three hundred feet deep and very productive. 
After leaving the mine we visited a small lake 
and then came back to the City Hall. 

There is a statue of Queen Victoria in Ben- 
digo upon the base of which is this inscription: 

"Victoria 

queen of earthly queens 

1837 to 1901 

Erected by the Citizens 

of Bendigo" 



76 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

We went from Bendigo to Harcourt, a very- 
small village, in order to visit some fruit orch- 
ards in that vicinity. We stopped at McLean's 
Temperance Hotel, about a mile from the village, 
and walked about half a mile to J. B. Warren's 
Fruit Farm. We had a letter of introduction 
to Mr. Warren, who was secretary of the fruit 
growers' association. 

When we arrived Mr. Warren, his wife and 
family, were wrapping apples in tissue paper and 
packing them in bushel boxes in order to ship 
them to Germany. He was very busy as he said 
the apples must be delivered at the railway sta- 
tion tomorrow, March 2d, in order to be ready 
for the boat. Mr. Warren showed us all through 
his orchard of apple, pear and plum trees. He 
plants his apple trees about twenty feet apart, 
which would make about one hundred trees to 
the acre. He thought he would have at least a 
total of seven thousand bushels, mostly apples. 
Mr. Warren showed us four small trees not more 
than six inches in diameter, from which he picked 
this year (1911) eighty boxes of apples of one 
bushel each. These trefes begin to branch, to 
form a top, only about sixteen or eighteen inches 
above the ground. In fact, the trees are very 
low so that more than one-half of the apples 
could be gathered by the pickers standing on the 
ground. 

We saw one small tree four or five inches in 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 77 

diameter loaded with apples. Mr. Warren 
thought there would be at least seven or eight 
bushels of them, and a picker standing on the 
ground could reach every apple. I know it as a 
fact because I stepped to the tree and reached the 
highest one. All of the trees were very full and 
many were propped to prevent their breaking. 
His chief varieties were Monroe Favorite, Shep- 
herd's Perfection, Cleopatra, New York Pippin, 
Stone Pippin, Dumelow Seedling, Maiden Blush, 
and Rhode Island Greening. 

Last night in a tree near the hotel we heard 
some Laughing Jackasses chuckle or laugh, and 
this morning we heard them again. The Laugh- 
ing Jackass, the Magpie and the Willie Wagtail 
are the best loved native birds in Australia. 

Soon after breakfast we visited John Doug- 
lass's Fruit Farm and Gardens. When we ar- 
rived he and his son were packing apples for ex- 
port. His fruit gardens occupy a little more than 
twenty-five acres and are the largest in the 
neighborhood. He does not want more than 
eight or ten different varieties of apples. He has 
the Stone Pippin, New York Pippin, London Pip- 
pin, Rome Beauty, the Jonathan, the Rimer and 
a few other kinds. Mr. Dauglass is absolutely in 
love with his gardens. The Scotch Commission- 
ers who were touring Australia studying its agri- 
culture, visited him a short time ago and that 
pleased him very much. He irrigates his gardens 



78 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

although at times this year there has been too 
much rain. The Stone Pippin is his best money 
maker. A three year old Rome Beauty graft was 
loaded with apples. A Rimer three inches in 
diameter and only five feet high had at least 
four bushels of apples on it. One of his gardens 
is twenty-six years old and the trees are five or 
six inches in diameter and only ten or twelve 
feet high. He likes to have the branches low so 
that the sun will not scald the trunk of the tree 
and so that the wind will not uproot them so 
easily. He ships his New York Pippins to Eng- 
land. The city of Melbourne like a large showy 
apple, but for export a medium sized apple sells 
best. The champion tree in the gardens is a 
Stone Pippin that begins to branch only eighteen 
inches from the ground. It has produced forty 
bushels of apples in one season. Two years ago 
Mr. Douglass got twenty-two bushels of apples 
off of a London Pippin which was only twelve 
feet high. , 

A few years ago twenty-five acres of small 
trees produced twenty-three hundred and eleven 
pounds worth of fruit. Nearly all of Mr. Doug- 
lass's fruits are apples. He has very few peaches, 
cherries, plums and pears. 

Mr. Douglass is a fine old Scotchman. He left 
Scotland when only nineteen years old. He had 
been on this place fifty-three years. He used to 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 79 

run a dairy of from fifty to sixty cows, and the 
manure from the dairy helped make his orchards 
profitable. He has not used commercial fertilizer. 
He quit the dairy business twenty or twenty-five 
years ago because it was too exacting on him as 
he was getting old. He used to like the dairy 
but now he is pleased with his orchards. 

On the afternoon of March 2d I visited the 
Harcourt School. I arrived there just before the 
session opened and remained until about the mid- 
dle of the afternoon. Seventy-two pupils were 
present in one room. The teacher, John Stewart, 
was assisted temporarily by an oldish lady as the 
regular assistant was sick. At the opening of 
the afternoon session the class in literature read 
Longfellow's "Psalm of Life," after which they 
were examined in regard to it and passed the 
examination quite creditably. It was very inter- 
esting to me, and the more so as that poem of 
Longfellow's is a favorite one of mine. The geo- 
graphy and arithmetic classes performed their 
work very well. The teacher, however, had to 
work under a great disadvantage. Just think of 
it ! Seventy-two pupils in one room. I think the 
teacher said that there were eighty-two enrolled. 
They expect to build a new up-to-date school- 
house in a few years. After recess the teacher 
requested me to address the school, which I did 
for a few minutes. They were very quiet during 



80 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the talk, and when I finished the pupils cheered so 
enthusiastically that I thought that that was the 
Australian way of doing things. 

My brother remained at the hotel when I 
visited the school and upon my return we walked 
to the station and left for Castlemaine, which is 
a town of nearly nine thousand inhabitants and 
only five miles away. We stopped at the Cumber- 
land Hotel and got number 13 for the night. I 
mention the number of this room because I have 
met people while traveling that would not sleep 
in No. 13. I have slept in No. 13 several times 
and nothing disastrous ever happened to me; in 
fact, I have no objections to the number if the 
room is all right. 

After supper we called on Dr. Thompson and 
presented our letter of introduction. He said he 
would make arrangements for some one to meet 
us at the hotel in the morning. The next morn- 
ing an automobile called for us and we made a 
tour of the surrounding country for the purpose 
of visiting the gold fields where dredge mining 
and hydraulic sluicing are carried on. We saw 
some very large dredges at work. It was said 
that one dredge with very large buckets could 
shift one hundred and twenty cubic yards of dirt 
per hour. Several hydraulic sluicing machines 
were in operation. 

The surface ground supposed to contain gold 
is dug up, soaked with water and put through one 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 81 

of these machines. The dirt and water is ex- 
pelled with much force through a long pipe and 
the gold is collected at a certain place in the 
machine. Some of the ground which was dug 
over years ago is put through these machines and 
gold in paying quantities is obtained. We saw 
several persons digging the ground with common 
shovels and washing it to find gold. 

After inspecting the gold fields we visited Mr. 
Winkelman's orchards, which consist of sixty 
acres. He had exported two thousand bushels of 
apples to Germany and England this year (1911) , 
and expects to have eight or ten thousand more 
bushels for export, most of which will go to Eng- 
land. He considers four shillings net per box an 
excellent price, and three shillings six pence a 
fair price. Mr. Winkelman raises a great many 
plums and cherries. In 1910 he sold one hundred 
and twenty-eight tons of plums, but in 1911 he 
sold only sixty tons. He ships some of his cher- 
ries to New Zealand. 

After visiting several other fruit farms we 
returned to the hotel where we were entertained 
at lunch by Dr. Thompson and the Mayor. We 
visited the town hall, which is a fine building and 
contains an excellent auditorium in which all 
meetings of a public nature are held. We then 
visited the foundry and machine shops at Castle- 
maine. They are the most extensive of any in 



82 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the State of Victoria outside of Melbourne. They 
employ about three hundred and fifty men. A 
fine park of three hundred acres is owned by the 
public corporation. After a most enjoyable trip 
of three hundred miles we returned to Melbourne 
on March 3d. 

On Monday morning, March 6th, we called at 
the general office of McKay's Harvester Works 
at Sunshine, eight or ten miles from Melbourne. 
After presenting our letter of introduction, pre- 
pared for us by the Government Tourist Bureau 
at Melbourne, we were furnished with an excel- 
lent guide who showed us through every depart- 
ment of the immense factory. Only a very few 
of the men were at work out of seventeen hun- 
dred, because of the immense strike that was on 
at this time. The strike began on January 16th 
and was ordered because ten or twelve workmen 
would not join the union. Mr. McKay would 
neither dismiss these men nor compel them to 
join the union, and the laborers absolutely re- 
fused to work with non-union men. In passing 
through the works everything was so quiet that 
it seemed as if we were attending a funeral. 
Ever since the strike began the works have been 
picketed by the police. The shops were comfort- 
able and airy and it seemed a shame that the men 
were not at work. 

They manufacture grain drills, discs, chaff 
cutters and other kinds of farm implements, but 



MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA 83 

the factory has become noted because the Sun- 
shine Harvester is made here. This machine is 
known as the stripper harvester and it is very 
.popular because of its labor-saving qualities. But 
before describing it more at length, it might be 
well to state that there are three methods of har- 
vesting wheat for the grain in use in Australia. 
First : Harvesting wheat with a reaper and binder 
is considered the best method, but by that method 
it requires much extra labor and expense before 
the grain can be made ready for the market and 
sometimes it is almost impossible to get the nec- 
essary labor at the proper time. Second: The 
stripper is sometimes used. It is said to be an 
Australian invention. This machine is drawn 
through the ripe standing crop by three or four 
horses walking alongside of the standing grain. 
By means of a comb the heads of the wheat are 
gathered and directed to the cutting place where 
they are cut from the straw. The beater drum 
in the machine threshes the grain out and at the 
same time the grain and chaff are deposited in a 
box that will hold about eight bushels of grain 
and its chaff. When this box is full the machine 
is taken to some convenient place in the field and 
emptied. This mixture of grain and chaff is then 
put through a winnower, which cleans the wheat 
and bags it ready for market. In case of fair 
crops, one winnower, with four men to work it 
and sew the bags, will keep two strippers going. 



84 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Third: The Sunshine Harvester is what might 
be called a "stripper harvester." It is an Austra- 
lian invention; in fact, I think Mr. McKay in- 
vented it. Built into the machine as a part of it 
is a winnowing attachment on which the threshed 
but uncleaned grain is delivered as the machine 
is drawn through the crop. This harvester not 
only cuts and threshes the grain as in the case 
of the stripper, but it also cleans it ready for 
market and delivers it in bags at the side of the 
machine. The cost of harvesting and threshing 
is much reduced by this method and much out- 
side labor can be dispensed with. The stripper 
harvester is a very compact machine, and al- 
though introduced only a few years ago it has 
rapidly grown into favor. The comb-gathering 
device in these machines is from five to six feet 
wide. Four horses will handle one of these ma- 
chines with ease. The harvester is worked by 
two men, one of whom drives the horses and at- 
tends to the machine, the other adjusts and re- 
moves the bags and sews them up. 



CHAPTER VII 

MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

THERE is a very fine cemetery at Melbourne 
in which are the graves of some of her 
most noted citizens, and it also contains 
some very fine monuments, but the most noted 
resting place in the cemetery is that of Mrs. 
Springthorp, wife of Dr. Springthorp. A very 
fine marble figure represents the deceased. An 
angel stands ready with a crown to place on the 
head of the deceased person at the resurrection, 
and at the opposite side of the figure is an angel 
kneeling. In front of these figures on the floor 
of the tomb are these words: "Born 26th of 
January, 1867, married 26th of January, 1887, 
and buried 26th of January, 1897." 

There were four burials in the cemetery the 
day we visited it. We (my brother, our old 
friend Henry Spencer of England and myself) 
attended services at one of the graves. 

There are more than five thousand acres in 
reservations and parks in the city of Melbourne 
and its suburbs. They furnish the inhabitants 
with plenty of opportunity for outdoor recreation, 
which the Australians so much enjoy. There is 

(85) 



86 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

a bathing place at St. Kilda Beach. While it is 
not so pleasant as the beach at Manly or at Coo- 
gee near Sydney, yet it can be made a first class 
bathing resort. 

The Botanical Gardens are well worth visit- 
ing because of the many varieties of plants, flow- 
ers and shrubs that they contain. The govern- 
ment report for the year 1910 states that more 
than fourteen thousand species of plants are 
growing in the gardens at present. Twenty-five 
years ago they contained only twenty-five hun- 
dred species. The pleasing features of the gar- 
dens are their extensive undulating lawns and 
broad paths with varied groupings and marginal 
beds of ornamental trees, flowering shrubs and 
useful plants. 

The Zoological Gardens are situated in the 
center of Royal Park in the northern part of the 
city about two miles from the post office. They 
contain many different species of birds and ani- 
mals. Many of the birds are very pretty, but 
in my opinion the flamingo is one of the oddest; 
and among the many wild animals, or tame ones 
either, I think the kangaroo is the queerest, espe- 
cially when it jumps about. 

As a matter of course, the tourist should not 
fail to visit the Federal Parliament Building con- 
taining the house of representatives and the sen- 
ate chamber, as well as some of the other public 
buildings. But of all the public places in and 



MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 87 

•about Melbourne that it was my good fortune to 
visit, I enjoyed the public library and museum 
connected with it the most. The approach to the 
public library building is so clean and enticing 
and the rooms are so cheerful and inspiring, that 
the visitor is in no hurry to leave the place. 
When I visited the library, I was always pleased 
to see a copy of Webster's New International 
Dictionary lying on the table. At the end of the 
year 1909 the reference library contained about 
two hundred thousand volumes. It is an excel- 
lent library and well managed. No wonder the 
people of Melbourne are proud of it and believe 
it to be the best library in the southern hemi- 
sphere. 

While in Australia I had a desire to meet Miss 
Vida Goldstine, the leader of the woman suffra- 
gists, but I learned that she had sailed for Europe 
before we arrived at Melbourne. While at Mel- 
bourne, however, I received an invitation to call 
at White Hall Flats Bank Place, where her mother 
resided. I called on Mrs. Goldstine on February 
22d and met H. H. Champion, her son-in-law. 
Mr. Champion was the leader of the London dock 
strike that took place in London, England, during 
the summer of 1889. He is an enthusiastic 
socialist and was the only gentleman by birth in 
that strike. His parents were well-to-do and he 
was an officer in the British army, but he re- 
signed his position in order to promulgate social- 



88 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ism. During the strike he was arrested, thrown 
into prison and kept there several days, but when 
brought up for trial he argued his own case be- 
fore the court without the assistance of an at- 
torney, won it and was set free. 

The weather seems to be ideal in Australia 
this season. It is said that the hot winds in Mel- 
bourne during the summer are very unpleasant 
and that the thermometer often runs up as high 
as from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred 
and twenty degrees in the shade. During the 
time we were there it did not get above ninety- 
five or ninety-six degrees. 

When we arose in the morning on March 7th, 
I noticed that there had been quite a rain during 
the night and learned that it had been the big- 
gest rain that they had for many years and that 
the thunder and lightning were terrible. I slept 
so well that I did not hear it. It rained a little 
all morning and about noon the rain just poured 
down, but without any wind. The newspapers 
reported that it rained nearly three inches alto- 
gether and that in twenty minutes just after noon 
about an inch of water fell. 

On the afternoon of March 7th we left Mel- 
bourne for Adelaide. We went by way of Sun- 
shine, Deer Park, Ballarat, Murray Bridge and 
Mount Lofty, arrived there the next day at ten- 
thirty a. m., about one-half hour late, and stopped 
at the Grand Coffee Palace on Hindley Street. 



MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 89 

We passed through some desert country on the 
trip to Adelaide. We saw many rabbits in the 
woods and fields on the way down. 

Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. It 
is a clean, pretty city with a population of per- 
haps two hundred thousand. While a German 
writer of some note calls it a dirty city, my im- 
pression is that it is one of the cleanest cities that 
I ever saw, and that was the impression of most 
people that I met. The residences are usually 
only one story high, and this is the case in most, 
if not all, other Australian cities. In the country 
you will seldom see a residence with more than 
one story. They look quaint but I rather like 
them. Many of the business houses even on the 
main streets of the different cities are only one 
or two stories high. You will seldom see a build- 
ing more than three or four stories high. A few 
of the buildings are higher, but they are the ex- 
ception. 

Soon after our arrival at Adelaide, Dr. Bur- 
den called us up by telephone and asked us to 
take tea with him and his family the next day. 
Dr. Burden, his wife and their son and daughter, 
were fellow passengers on the steamer Zealandia 
which left Vancouver, British Columbia, in De- 
cember, 1910, and which arrived in Sydney on 
December 26th. He is a doctor as well as a min- 
ister, and had settled at Henley Beach, a village 
near Adelaide, where he had begun the practice 



90 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

of medicine. His brother was one of the leading 
chemists of Adelaide. At the appointed time we 
went to Henley Beach, which is a pretty place, 
and soon found Dr. Burden's residence. Dr. Bur- 
den was married in China while he was a mis- 
sionary there. He showed us the Chinese wed- 
ding garments in which he and his wife were 
married. He had in his possession a silver 
finger-shield which must have been nearly four 
inches long, and he said that he had seen finger 
nails longer than the shield. He showed us a 
Chinese shoe that was just four and one-half 
inches long, and he saw smaller ones that had 
been worn by young ladies. The feet of the 
babies or children four or five years old are 
larger than those of some grown people. They 
begin to bind the feet at four or five years of 
age. He showed us Chinese caps for children 
and sacks for himself and wife. The hand em- 
broidery was very pretty and the goods was of 
the finest silk. After a very pleasant afternoon 
with Dr. Burden and his family, we returned to 
Adelaide. 

On Friday afternoon, March 10th, we took 
a fine fifty mile automobile trip arranged by the 
department of agriculture. We went into the 
fruit and market garden region. We stopped at 
several places where they were gathering fruit, 
and at one place where they were digging pota- 



MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 91 

toes. They were getting twelve shillings per 
hundred weight, one hundred and twelve pounds, 
and told us that the potatoes would yield from 
ten to fourteen tons of twenty-two hundred and 
forty pounds each, per acre. The potatoes were 
of the Up-to-Date variety, a very expressive 
name, indeed. We had a fine trip, passed several 
interesting places and rode along the main road 
from Adelaide to Melbourne for some distance. 
On our way back to the city, we passed forty or 
fifty teams returning from market at Adelaide. 
When we arrived in the city we went into the 
north part and saw some very fine residences. 
While at Adelaide, we made a trip to Mount 
Lofty, which is about twenty miles away, arriv- 
ing there on Saturday afternoon, March 11th. 

Everything around about it is "Mount Lofty" 
— the station, the village and the mountain. The 
flower gardens at the station in the village and at 
the fine residences along the highway that leads 
to the summit, are all very pretty. In fact, the 
entire place is noted because of its fine gardens 
and quiet surroundings, so much so, that it has 
become a popular summer resort. We arose early 
on Sunday morning, started on foot for the sum- 
mit and arrived there about eight o'clock. The 
view was not good as the morning was cloudy and 
hazy. When the weather is clear the view is con- 
sidered one of the finest in Australia. There is 



92 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

a column or tower at the summit with the follow- 
ing inscription on a copper plate that is imbedded 
in it near the base: 

"Flinders Column 

In Honor of Mathew Flinders, 

Commander of the Investigator, 

Who from Kangaroo Head, 

Kangaroo Island, 

Discovered and Named 

Mount Lofty 

On Tuesday, 23d March, 

1802 

This Tablet was Unveiled and the Column named 

by His Excellency, Lord Tennyson, 

22d March, 1902." 

The highway at some places up near the sum- 
mit was lined with blackberry bushes full of nice, 
large, ripe berries, which we enjoyed very much. 
We returned to the hotel about one p. m. Soon 
after dinner Dr. Kennedy invited us to go with 
him on a drive to see some of his patients, after 
which he took us around about the hills for seven 
or eight miles. The people among the hills fol- 
low market gardening. On our return to the vil- 
lage, Dr. Kennedy took us to the railway station 
and we were soon on our way to Adelaide. 

On March ,14th we visited the Roseworthy 
Agricultural College, situated about four and 
one-half miles from the village of Roseworthy 
and thirty-five miles from Adelaide. We were 



MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 93 

met at the railway station by one of the teams 
from the farm. The College has about fifty stu- 
dents, and as this was their final examination 
day the Principal was very busy, but he sent an 
excellent guide with us to show us through the 
college and over the farm. The farm connected 
with the college contained nearly eighteen hun- 
dred acres of land, of which a little more than 
six hundred and fifty acres are under crops. 
This farm is used for experimental purposes 
along the lines of general or mixed farming, but 
some special attention is paid to wheat growing 
and sheep raising. The average annual rainfall 
at this station is only a little more than seventeen 
inches, and occasionally it is less than fifteen 
inches, and yet they grow wheat without irriga- 
tion and often get from twenty to twenty-five 
bushels per acre, but in order to do so they sum- 
mer fallow their ground and raise only one crop 
in two years. The farm is level and that made it 
look homelike. They are also experimenting 
along other lines in order to produce a rotation 
in which wheat will occur once in four years, al- 
though they would prefer to have it occur twice 
in five years. On account of the drought the 
ground must be worked down fine so that it will 
better retain the moisture. The experimental 
station uses the harvester and stripper, and by 
this method the straw all remains on the ground, 
and many farmers burn it so as to get rid of the 



94 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

weed seed and other trash. The experiment farm 
condemns the practice of burning the straw and 
turns plenty of stock in the field to tramp the 
straw down. They irrigate some of this farm 
for alfalfa and other crops. They had some very 
nice Berkshire hogs on the farm. They were of 
the opinion that they had the best Berkshires in 
Australia. We saw several that were imported 
from England. They had some very fine poultry 
and seemed to prefer the White Wyandottes, but 
said that the Plymouth Rocks are fast growing 
into favor and are supposed to be the best gen- 
eral purpose fowl. 

They had sixty-five or seventy acres in grapes 
for wine-making. We saw them crush the grapes 
for that purpose. A ton, twenty-two hundred 
and forty pounds, of grapes will make about one 
hundred gallons of wine and sometimes more. 

We saw a heavy disk drawn by six horses. 
It was used to turn over heavy stuff like sorg- 
hum or maiz«. The disk would run about three 
inches deep and do good work. They have good 
plows, however, and they are experimenting by 
plowing four, six, eight, ten and twelve inches 
deep. They make a great deal of wheat hay on 
the farm. It is an excellent feed. They also 
make a mixed hay of wheat, oats and vetches, 
which is very good. Some of this hay is cut 
into chaff. Their test plots on this farm con- 
tain two acres each. It is their opinion that 



MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 95 

they can be more accurate with their tests 
on a large plot rather than on a small one. They 
had a first class small freezing machine in the 
dairy. We had a very instructive and pleasant 
day at the farm. 

While at Adelaide I met Premier Verran and 
several other government officials. They were 
pleased to give us all the information we desired 
in regard to their country, and especially in re- 
gard to its government. We left Adelaide for 
Outer Harbor on Thursday, March 16th, to get 
on board the Steamship India that left Sydney 
March 8th bound for London, England, where it 
was expected to arrive on April 22d. My brother 
and I went only as far as Port Said, Egypt. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 

THERE was a Federal movement in Austra- 
lia long before the establishment of the 
Commonwealth, but because of colonial 
jealousies the movement did not take practical 
shape for many years. After many conventions 
and conferences had been held, at which nothing 
definite was accomplished, it was finally agreed 
at a conference held at Hobart, Tasmania, in 
1895, that "the framing of a Federal constitu- 
tion was an urgent duty," and not long after 
that conference Federal representatives were 
elected in five of the colonies interested for the 
purpose of forming a constitution. All of the 
colonies that took part in the recent conferences 
voted in favor of federation. Western Australia, 
the last one to do so, voted in favor of federation 
on July 31, 1900. On the 17th of September, 
1900, Queen Victoria signed the proclamation de- 
claring that on and after the first day of Janu- 
ary, 1901, the people of New South Wales, Vic- 
toria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania 
and Western Australia should be united in a Fed- 
eral Commonwealth under the name of the Com- 

(96) - 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 97 

monwealth of Australia. Previous to this time 
the states that now constitute the Commonwealth 
were called colonies. They were absolutely inde- 
pendent of one another, and in that respect they 
were similar to the thirteen original colonies of 
the United States of America. As they were in- 
dependent of one another, it resulted in each one 
having its own laws in regard to the tariff as 
well as in regard to several other subjects that 
could be better provided for if they were all 
united under one government. The governor- 
general, representing the Crown, is the executive 
head of the Commonwealth. The legislative de- 
partment consists of the senate and the house of 
representatives. The senate shall consist of six 
senators from each state until otherwise ordered. 
They are elected for the term of six years. After 
the first election, it is so arranged that the terms 
of one-half of the senators expire every three 
years. The senators are elected by the people of 
the whole state voting for each one of them. 

The number of members in the house of rep- 
resentatives shall be as nearly as practicable twice 
the number of senators, and the number of mem- 
bers elected in the several states shall be in pro- 
portion to the population of the state. The judi- 
cial power of the Commonwealth is vested in a 
Federal Supreme Court called the High Court of 
Australia, and such other courts as Parliament 



98 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

may prescribe. The High Court of Australia 
shall consist of a chief justice and at least two 
other justices, but Parliament may increase the 
number. At present, that court is composed of 
five justices, including the chief justice. 

Ever since the formation of the Common- 
wealth there has been an effort on the part of 
many of its citizens to give the Federal govern- 
ment more authority, but such an effort has been 
met by a determined opposition. Some of the 
states are jealous of their rights and are unwill- 
ing to give them up. 

On April 26, 1911, several proposed amend- 
ments designed to give the Federal government 
more authority were defeated by a very large 
majority. 

Railways. When the states composing the 
Commonwealth of Australia were separate col- 
onies and each one made its own laws, including 
the tariff, erected its own lighthouses and built 
its own railways, as a matter of course they did 
not work in harmony. Under such conditions, 
when each colony was for itself, and not all for 
each, the railway systems of the different col- 
onies were established. It would be uninterest- 
ing to the general reader to explain minutely how 
the adoption of the different gauges came about. 
It will be sufficient to say that New South Wales 
first adopted the five-foot three-inch gauge and 
then very soon afterward changed to the four- 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 99 

foot eight and a half-inch gauge, which it has at 
present. Victoria and South Australia adopted 
the five-foot three-inch gauge. Queensland has 
the three-foot six-inch gauge. In Western Aus- 
tralia and Tasmania, the three-foot six-inch 
gauge was adopted. The lines that have more 
recently been constructed in South Australia as 
well as those in the Northern Territory, have 
adopted the three-foot six-inch gauge. Thus it 
will be seen that South Australia is using two 
gauges, the broad and the narrow. 

With few exceptions, all of the railway lines 
in the Commonwealth are owned and managed by 
the respective states through whose territory 
they run. It is very unfortunate for interstate 
traffic that they are not of a uniform gauge. The 
distance from Sydney to Melbourne is less than 
six hundred miles, and yet every pound of freight 
must be transferred at the state line because of 
the different railway gauges. I found as a result 
of my investigations that practically every one 
in Australia is in favor of government ownership 
of the railroads, the telegraph and the telephone, 
but many were of the opinion that Federal own- 
ership would be better than state ownership. 
The railway fares for passengers will average 
about the same as those in the United States, 
first class being higher and second class some- 
what lower than in this country. 

Most of the main lines have first class cars 



100 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

and equipment, and while they do not attain the 
speed reached by some of our "lightning ex- 
presses," they make fairly good time, averaging 
from thirty to thirty-five miles per hour. 

The styles of cars are like those used in Great 
Britain and on the continent of Europe. Some 
of the cars are divided into compartments with 
a door at each end of the compartment, hence 
every car of this style has as many outside doors 
on each side as there are compartments in it. 
The passenger generally enters or leaves the 
compartment by the door next the platform. 
These compartments have two seats "as long as 
the whole width of the car. They will accom- 
modate eight or ten passengers, one-half of 
whom will ride facing the rear. I like to ride 
with face to the front, but many people who 
have traveled a great deal prefer to face the rear 
as in that manner they avoid the draft when the 
windows (which are in the doors) are open. The 
better class of cars, however, have an entrance 
at each end, but after entering the car from the 
end you can pass through a corridor the entire 
length of the car but along one side instead of 
through the center. These cars are divided into 
compartments similar to those that have been 
just described. Some of these compartments are 
nicely furnished and are very comfortable . On 
those cars that have the corridor along one side 
of them, a passenger can visit the different com- 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 101 

partments of the same class, and he can go from 
car to car anywhere on the train just as he can 
in this country. The advantage or disadvantage 
of traveling either by first or second class will 
be set forth in a subsequent chapter. 

Land — The Commonwealth of Australia is 
about as large as the United States, excluding 
Alaska and its island possessions, and there are 
within its borders millions of acres of first class 
productive land. There are other millions of 
acres lying in the interior of the continent that 
perhaps can never be made productive because 
of the terrible droughts and lack of water for 
irrigation purposes. The fickle climate of Aus- 
tralia, together with its extreme droughts, has 
in a measure prevented its rapid settlement, and 
another thing that has retarded its growth to 
some extent has been its large real estate owners 
and its immense pastoral leases. All of the 
states have, however, Closer Settlement Laws at 
present. 

These laws enable the government to pur- 
chase either by agreement or by compulsory 
methods suitable private estates and sell them in 
small parcels to persons who desire to make 
homes for themselves and their families on the 
soil. Reference may here be made to the "Tor- 
rens System for the Transfer of Real Estate," 
which was originated in South Australia by the 
late Sir R. R. Torrens in the year 1858, and which 



102 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

has been adopted in all the states of the Com- 
monwealth and also in New Zealand. 

This System "gives security and simplicity to 
all dealings with land by providing for such reg- 
istration of title as shall admit of all interests 
which may appear upon the face of the registry 
being perfected, so that a registered title or in- 
terest shall practically never be affected by any 
claim or charge not registered." Many of the 
American states have adopted the system. This 
system is said "to cheapen the cost of dealings in 
real estate by reason of the simplicity of the 
procedure." It is thought these laws will have a 
tendency to encourage many to make their homes 
on the land. 

I met several Canadian families that expected 
to settle on small farms not far from Ballarat in 
the State of Victoria. 

Wheat, oats and barley can be produced at a 
profit where the rain is sufficient. Tasmania is 
the best wheat growing state in the Common- 
wealth. Its production for a series of years was 
more than twenty bushels per acre, while that 
for the whole Commonwealth during the same 
series of years was a little less than ten bushels 
per acre. It is said that wheat can be produced 
in Australia at a profit even if the yield is as low 
as eight or nine bushels per acre. 

New South Wales and Queensland produce 
nearly all the Indian corn (maize) that is raised 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 103 

in the Commonwealth. The former with an 
average yield of twenty-seven bushels, and the 
latter of twenty bushels per acre. 

Victoria, for the same series of years, pro- 
duced on an average fifty-eight bushels per acre, 
and the last official record that I have on hand 
— 1909-10 — shows that the average per acre 
was sixty bushels, but only a little more than 
nineteen thousand acres were planted. They 
have some very fine horses and cattle in the Com- 
monwealth, and they raise a few hogs, but sheep 
and wool have made Australia famous the world 
over. 

Wool and Sheep. The Commonwealth of 
Australia raises more sheep and produces more 
wool than any other country in the world. The 
average number of sheep in the Commonwealth 
on January 1st for the last twenty-five years was 
in excess of eighty millions. Notwithstanding 
sheep raising is very profitable and carried on 
extensively in every state, nevertheless New 
South Wales every year since 1878, with very few 
exceptions, has had within its borders more than 
one-half of all the sheep in the Commonwealth. 
Think of a state not quite one-fifth larger than 
Texas with more than forty millions of sheep 
within its borders. It is said that two or three 
of the largest sheep farmers in Australia have 
more than one hundred thousand sheep each. 
The tendency at present is an increase in the 



104 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

number of flocks and a decrease in their size. 
The state of Victoria, which is only a little larger 
than Minnesota, had, according to the official re- 
port for 1910, an increase in the number of flocks 
or more than eight thousand, and an increase in 
the number of sheep of more than one and one- 
half million, but the average number of sheep in 
a flock has been reduced from seven hundred and 
six to five hundred and thirty-one. 

Many of the large wool producers visit Syd- 
ney and other cities for the purpose of selling 
their wool clip on the wool exchange.' You will 
meet plenty of them^n the different cities and 
especially in Sydney and Melbourne. I had a long 
talk with one who lived five hundred miles from 
Sydney and thirty miles from the railway who 
came to the city to sell his wool. He shears from 
ten thousand to twelve thousand sheep; he sold 
his entire clip for twelve pence per pound, and 
the highest price paid on that day (January 
25th) was only twelve and one-half pence — about 
twenty-five cents. On that date the German buy- 
ers were the best bidders ; wool was a little dull. 
It had been higher a week or two before this. 
This gentleman thought that if the United States 
bidders would enter the market, prices would 
soon reach sixteen pence. He also said that in 
1899 wool in the grease brought nineteen and 
one-half pence per pound for the best, and four- 
teen pence for medium, but in 1901 it was very 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 105 

low, selling at from eight to twelve pence a pound. 
As a matter of course, this gentleman was a free 
trader as regards wool. 

He spoke to me about the beef trust in Amer- 
ica, declared they were trying to organize a trust 
in Australia and jokingly said, "Perhaps you are 
one of them." I assured him that that was not 
in my line. He said that a beef trust would do 
him good but that it would hurt the consumer. 
The Australian newspapers were very much agi- 
tated over the so-called beef trust and insisted 
that the government should never allow it to en- 
ter the country. Another gentleman who lived 
at Curra Creek by Wellington, New South Wales, 
said that he was not a large farmer but that he 
had seven hundred acres of land and kept sev- 
eral hundred sheep. His sheep are Merinos, and 
they average to shear eight and one-half pounds 
each. He had a five year old wether that sheared 
twenty-five pounds each year for three years in 
succession, and the past season it sheared twenty- 
eight pounds. Some small lots of sheep average 
from ten to ten and a half pounds each. The 
production of wool is the chief contributing fac- 
tor to the pastoral wealth of Australia. The 
total quantity of wool produced during the past 
few years amounts to about six hundred million 
pounds annually, most of which is exported. 
Nearly one-half of the wool exported goes to the 
United Kingdom. France, Germany and Belgium 



106 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

are also large importers of Australian wool. The 
wool imported in the United States from Austra- 
lia amounts to about twenty million pounds an- 
nually. The total value of all the wool exported 
from the Commonwealth amounts to more than 
one hundred and ten million dollars annually. 

The Argentine Republic, which lies in about 
the same latitude as Australia and whose climatic 
conditions are similar, is its chief rival in the 
number of its sheep and its production of first 
class wool. 

For many years a clipped sheep in Australia 
was of little value as there were so many millions 
more of them than could be eaten by the small 
population, and the meat could not be shipped to 
foreign countries, but since the freezing system 
has been introduced and frozen meat can be 
shipped to the most distant countries, a large ex- 
port trade in mutton and lamb has sprung up so 
that now more than ten million sheep and lambs 
are required annually to supply the demand. The 
Merino is the best sheep for wool in the world, 
but Australia is now breeding a mixed breed for 
both wool and mutton. 

Gold. As to value, gold stands easily in the 
front rank of all the mineral productions of the 
Commonwealth. After the discovery of gold in 
1851, large numbers of people rushed into the 
colonies in order to secure some of the precious 
metal, so that the very next year nearly six mil- 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 107 

lion dollars worth was mined. The production 
of gold from that time was quite steady until 
1860 when the amount began to decline quite rap- 
idly and reached its lowest point in 1886, when 
only about four and one-half million pounds were 
mined, and then the production steadily increased 
until 1903, when more than sixteen million 
pounds' worth was mined, and that was the larg- 
est annual production in its history. Then the 
production began to decline steadily until 1908, 
when the amount produced was valued at a little 
more than thirteen million pounds. The total 
amount mined in the Commonwealth up to 1908 
amounted to a little more than five hundred mil- 
lion pounds' worth, or about two and a half bil- 
lions of dollars. Many of the gold mines are more 
than two thousand feet deep. The deepest mines 
are in Victoria in the Bendigo district, where the 
two deepest shafts on December 31, 1908, were 
more than four thousand feet deep. Western 
Australia produces one-half of all the gold mined 
in Australia at present. 

Some large nuggets of gold have been found 
in the Australian gold fields, among which were 
the "Welcome" and the "Welcome Stranger." 

The Welcome was found at Ballarat in 1858 
and weighed twenty-two hundred and seventeen 
ounces. 

The "Welcome Stranger" was found at Dun- 
oily in 1869 and weighed twenty-three hundred 



108 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

and fifteen ounces and it was valued at £9,534. 
Other large nuggets have been found since then. 

Capital and Labor. Australia is a grand 
country and immense opportunities lie before it. 
The fickle climate and the droughts to which it 
is subject are drawbacks, to be sure, but notwith- 
standing those difficulties, there is plenty of op- 
portunity for a man of energy to make a success. 
The one thing that Australia needs more than 
any other in order to develop its resources, is a 
larger population. There is no reason why the 
population of the Commonwealth should not be 
doubled within the next ten years, and if it were 
doubled every one would find plenty to do and not 
one person would need to be idle if capital and 
labor would work together in harmony. Every 
Australian ought to use his influence to induce 
capital and labor to work in harmony so as to 
develop their common country. The differences 
should be so adjusted that each would get its 
just reward. Both are essential to the upbuild- 
ing of a country, and neither can exist without 
the other, and as one, so to speak, is the handmaid 
of the other, they ought always to be in sympathy 
with each other. Strikes without due delibera- 
tion and lockouts without just cause do not have 
a tendency to make for peace. 

There is only one thing that will ever produce 
a lasting peace between capital and labor, and 
that is absolute fairness in dealing with each 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 109 

other. When the labor question in Australia is 
settled, if it is settled right, then the Common- 
wealth will be in a position to forge ahead by 
leaps and bounds, because there is an immense 
amount of work to be done at a profit: railways 
to build, farms to develop, mines to operate, com- 
merce to extend, — all these things waiting for 
some one to push them along. 

While the writer was in Australia, the bit- 
terness between labor and capital was intense, 
and yet the masses seemed to have a fellow feel- 
ing for one another as sincere and genuine as that 
possessed by any other people that I have met. 

Newspapers. Australia has reason to be 
proud of its newspapers. They are reliable and 
spicy without being sensational. Some writers 
say that they are more dignified and influential 
than those of any other English speaking country 
in the world. As a rule, they discuss public ques- 
tions in a more serious and dignified manner. I 
was surprised at the amount of English and also 
American news found in some of their leading 
papers. The names of many of the newspapers 
in Australia are similar to those in our own coun- 
try, which made them look quite homelike. They 
have the Herald, the Telegraph, the Sun, the Age, 
the Argus, the Register, and some other familiar 
names. 

While there are many first class newspapers 
in the Commonwealth, there are very few, if any, 



110 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

magazines or reviews, and that no doubt is in a 
measure accounted for by the high standard of 
their newspapers. The Bulletin, however, is pub- 
lished in quarto form, and some of the most 
talented artists and best writers are in its ser- 
vice. Much of its space is devoted to society. It 
is said to be the ablest paper published in Austra- 
lia, but I do not like it as well as I did some of 
the other leading newspapers. 

Cities. The cities of Australia are clean and 
progressive, and as a rule well governed. Their 
municipal affairs are almost entirely free from 
party politics. All of the leading newspapers 
resent any attempt made by party politicians to 
fasten their baneful influence upon the city gov- 
ernment. 

The cities of the Commonwealth contain more 
than one-half of its entire population. This situ- 
ation is strange for a new country and rather un- 
fortunate. It is in a measure, no doubt, caused 
by the large estates and the immense sheep sta- 
tions, which have a tendency to make life lonely 
in the country. The Australians are fond of 
sports. They love music and are proud of their 
most noted singer, Melba, who is known all over 
the world. They are frank and outspoken ; many 
of them, perhaps a majority, have socialistic 
tendencies. They are more like the people of 
the United States than any other people I ever 
met. They are very genial, kind and pleasant. 



AUSTRALIA IN GENERAL 111 

A leading Australian told the writer that an 
Australian would stop to give information to a 
fellowman even if he missed a train by so doing. 

The people of Australia want a white govern- 
ment. They have deported all of the South Sea 
Islanders that used to work in the sugar planta- 
tions of Queensland and are getting white labor- 
ers to take their places. They do this even when 
that method requires them to pay a bounty to the 
sugar producers. Asiatic immigration is severely 
restricted, and in some cases entirely prohibited. 
The government has never had much trouble with 
the natives as they have always been kind when 
well treated. They are said to be a primitive race 
but not a degenerate one, and that they have some 
of the physical characteristics of all the leading 
races, but I think that the few that I have seen 
resemble the negroes of America very much. 

In securing game they throw the boomerang, 
a short, bent, fiat stick about two inches wide 
and two feet long, a number of which may be 
seen in the museum at Melbourne. They also use 
a spear, but know nothing about the bow and 
arrow. These natives (aborigines) are so prim- 
itive that it is supposed by some people that Aus- 
tralia was the birthplace of the human race, that 
the Garden of Eden was within its borders, and 
that in a few years the millenium will take place 
there. 

The aborigines of Australia cannot stand the 



112 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

influences of civilization. There are now only 
about sixty thousand left. Whole tribes have 
been blotted out wherever they have come in con- 
tact with civilization. 

It seems strange that they should be about 
the lowest in the intellectual scale of all the in- 
habitants in the world, and that the native Maori 
of New Zealand, which is only about twelve hun- 
dred miles away should be the most intelligent 
of all the so-called savage people. In fact, some 
writers consider him intellectually the equal of 
the white man. 



CHAPTER IX 

ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 

ON March 16th we left Adelaide for Outer 
Harbor, which is fourteen miles away, to 
get on board the India, which left Syd- 
ney, Australia, for London, England, as stated 
on a previous page. The tourists' office at Outer 
Harbor had on hand for distribution many 
pamphlets and circulars full of information in 
regard to the advantages of Australia. The 
steamer left promptly at six p. m. Our stay in 
Australia was very instructive. We were for- 
tunate in seeing the country at. its best ; it had 
been one of the most prosperous years in its his- 
tory. They had more rain than usual, which 
made the country look green and cheerful instead 
of dry and parched, as it often does during the 
summer months. The climatic conditions of the 
country were never better. 

On March 20th, just before noon, we arrived 
at Fremantle near Perth on the southwest coast 
of Australia. . The trip across the Great Aus- 
tralian Bight was pleasant although it was some- 
what rough. We were allowed to go ashore at 
Fremantle with instructions to be back on board 

8 (113) 



114 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

at six p. m. Many of the passengers, including 
my brother and myself, went ashore and took the 
steamer Zephyr for Perth, which is situated on 
the Swan River a short distance from its mouth. 
The trip up the river to Perth was quite inter- 
esting as we now and then passed a fine residence 
with a beautiful lawn and pretty surroundings. 
The landing stage at Perth was in a pretty park, 
in which stood the Supreme Court Building. We 
went to the post office, and after walking about 
the most interesting parts of the city we went to 
the railway station at Wellington Street and took 
the train for Fremantle. 

Perth is the capital of Western Australia. It 
is a pretty little city with some fine public build- 
ings. 

In order to supply the dry, parched gold fields 
at Kalgoorlie with water, the state government of 
Western Australia entered into one of the most 
gigantic undertakings ever attempted by a hand- 
ful of people, so to speak. They built a dam seven 
hundred and sixty feet long and one hundred feet 
high across the Helena River near Mundaring, 
and laid pipes and constructed reservoirs for the 
purpose of supplying the towns in the gold fields 
with water. The capacity of the Mundaring Res- 
ervoir is four billion six hundred million gallons, 
and its daily output capacity is five million gal- 
lons. The water is pumped through a thirty- 
inch pipe from this reservoir to the main reser- 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 115 

voir in the gold fields three hundred and fifty-one 
miles away. This main reservoir in the gold 
fields is twelve hundred feet above the reservoir 
at Mundaring, from which the water is forced by 
eight pumping stations along the main line. The 
total cost of the works was more than three and 
a quarter million pounds, or nearly sixteen mil- 
lion dollars. This was surely a gigantic under- 
taking for a state that had at that time less than 
one hundred and fifty thousand people within its 
borders, and comparatively speaking, many of 
them were opposing it. But the state at that 
time had a Premier that had sand, sense, and 
sagacity; the scheme was pushed through to a 
successful termination, and every one now is. 
aware of its value. 

These gold fields now produce about one-half 
of all the gold mined in the entire Common- 
wealth. 

It was nearly seven p. m. when the India left 
Fremantle for Colombo on the island of Ceylon. 
The evening was clear and beautiful ; we saw the 
moon rise over the waste of water. It was a 
little late as it was past full moon. 

The 21st was a fine day. The water in the 
Indian Ocean is darker, or more of a black blue, 
than it is in the Atlantic or Pacific, as I remem- 
ber the former on one of my trips long ago. At 
night there was much soft, bright reflection on 
the water said to be phosphorus. The 22d and 



116 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

23rd were both fine days, but on the 24th the sea 
was a little rough all forenoon. After noon it 
rained quite hard but the wind did not blow 
much. The following notice was posted in the 
music room on the 24th: "This ship is adver- 
tised to leave Colombo at nine a. m. on Thursday 
morning." 

On the 25th it was raining in the afternoon 
and quite dark and the ship's whistle blew every 
few minutes. A day or two ago we saw a large 
water spout; it seemed to be eight or ten miles 
from the ship and away back on our right. 

On the 27th there was a fine breeze all fore- 
noon but the weather was quite hot. At noon to- 
day we were only twelve minutes south of the 
line, as they call the equator. The sea was very 
smooth. 

The 28th was one of the finest days that "I 
ever saw. The ocean was as smooth and calm 
as a rather sluggish river. There was a very 
fine sunset, but it began to rain suddenly a little 
after eight p. m. 

March 29th the steamer arrived at Colombo 
early in the morning and anchored out in the 
harbor about one mile from shore. We had 
breakfast at eight-thirty a. m. and then we were 
taken ashore on a small launch. About one-half 
of the passengers had left the steamer between 
four and five o'clock to go to Kandy, the ancient 
capital of Ceylon, which is in the midst of the 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 117 

tea fields and rubber producing country, about 
seventy miles from Colombo. About a dozen of 
us who were left behind made arrangements with 
a native to provide carriages to take us to the 
most interesting places in the city and out to 
Mount Lavinia Grand Hotel, where we were to 
have lunch. 

Colombo is only about seven degrees north of 
the equator and the climate is very hot during 
this time of the year. It is the most remarkable 
city that I ever saw. Strange sights meet the 
eye at every turn. We passed the post office, the 
American and other consulate offices, Queen's 
Palace, Gordon Gardens, Lipton Tea House, Bar- 
racks, Ocean Beach, the Galle Face Hotel, Native 
Markets, Hindu Temple and many other interest- 
ing places, and finally arrived at Mount Livinia 
Grand Hotel, about seven miles away. Our 
party of twelve was provided for by three car- 
riages, each with a native driver. The route was 
lined with native beggars. Sometimes eight or 
ten would follow the carriage at once, and if it 
would stop for only a moment they would crowd 
around it and throw flowers in it, then salute us 
and cut up all sorts of capers to attract our at- 
tention so that we would give them money. One 
little fellow, perhaps nine or ten years of age, 
almost entirely naked, who had one arm off at the 
shoulder and the other one off just above the 
wrist, came begging for money. I put a sixpence 



118 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

on his arm, and he raised his arm up and put the 
money in his mouth. 

I saw more begging in Colombo during our 
short stay there than all of the rest of the beg- 
ging that I ever saw in my life. Many of the 
native children ran about the streets absolutely 
naked, and most of the workmen wear no cloth- 
ing except a narrow strip of cloth tied around 
their bodies, while others have a short skirt fast- 
ened around their waists. 

On the way out to the Mount Lavinia Grand 
Hotel, our carriage stopped in the streets for a 
few minutes in front of a hut where an old In- 
dian man sat with a baby about three months old. 
He gave it to me and I held it for a short time. 
It was entirely naked but it looked as happy as 
could be. 

Natives would pass along the street with the 
smallest parcel of wood, consisting of roots, bark 
and twigs, under their arms. The whole parcel 
would not make one good stick for a common 
cook stove. They had gathered it along the 
streets and were taking it home to burn. The 
natives, both men and women, carry very large 
and heavy loads upon their heads. 

The natives are as fond of tobacco as their 
white brethren and you will see some of them 
smoking either a cigar, a cigarette or a pipe, but 
the oddest thing is to see them chewing some- 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 119 

thing that will make their tongues, lips and teeth 
quite red. 

The streets were lined with great heavy ox 
carts, some drawn by one ox hitched between 
great shafts, and others by two hitched to a great, 
long, heavy tongue. Many of these carts were 
covered like our emigrant wagons of long ago. 
The cattle were of the Indian breed, with a large 
bunch on- the top of their shoulders. They had 
twine strings or ropes around their necks fast- 
ened to the yokes instead of bows. The driver 
would sit in an uncomfortable position just be- 
hind the cattle upon the great heavy tongue to do 
the driving, and as the roads and streets were 
excellent they would haul enormous loads. 

Another oddity is the Rickshaw. We saw 
hundreds of them. It is a two-wheeled vehicle, 
drawn by a person. Some of them are very fine 
and have tops like a buggy. The natives would 
pull them about the streets and even go on long 
journeys with them, and often trot along about 
as fast as a horse would travel. In fact, one of 
them containing a passenger from our ship fol- 
lowed our carriage for a long distance and kept 
up with us so that he could trot along in the 
shade. It looked inhuman, but they seem to 
enjoy it. 

Soon after arriving at Mount Livinia Grand 
Hotel, we had lunch and then took a short walk 



120 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

with a guide who showed us where the British 
kept several thousand Boer prisoners during the 
South African war. We also went through a 
large grove of cocoanut trees. They were full of 
fruit in all stages of growth from the small green 
nuts to the large bunches of ripe ones. Some 
blossoms were also on . the same trees ready to 
produce another crop. Many of the cocoanut 
trees had palm leaves tied around their trunks 
so as to make a noise if any one attempted to 
climb them to steal the nuts. 

We visited a native village where we saw 
several natives making lace. We then took the 
carriage and were driven to the Cinnamcn Gar- 
dens, and each one of us got a small piece of 
green cinnamon bush. We saw the bread tree, 
so-called, because its fruit resembles bread, and 
the Jak fruit tree, which produces large bunches 
of odd looking fruit weighing from twenty-five to 
thirty pounds each. The fruit of these trees is 
used for food. 

The cotton tree grows from thirty to forty 
feet high and bears pods about six inches long 
and perhaps two inches in diameter. These pods 
are full of cotton, and when they are ripe they 
will burst open and the cotton will come out. 
Truly the tree and plant life in and about Co- 
lombo is wonderful. 

We visited the native museum and it was 
quite interesting. But by far the most interest- 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 121 

ing place that we visited in Colombo was the 
Buddhist Temple. It is an odd place. Just as you 
enter the Temple a large figure of Buddha is lying 
in front of you and all through the building on 
the walls are pictures of characters taken from 
their Sacred Book. A young intelligent native 
Buddhist explained the meaning of many of 
these figures. 

At one place we saw them building a piece 
of new road. They were using a large roller that 
would compare favorably with one in our own 
country. They were digging trenches along some 
of the streets for the purpose of putting the tele- 
phone wires under ground in the city. Occasion- 
ally one would see a pleasure cart drawn by an 
ox, but as a rule they are drawn by a horse. 

Upon our return to the city, we quit our car- 
riage at the Globe Hotel and walked to the post 
office. At that place were a number of persons 
with rickshaws waiting for passengers. They in- 
sisted that we should ride. I think that I would 
have done so if it were not for the fact that I 
was too democratic in my tastes. 

White men and women were not the only per- 
sons to be conveyed about in rickshaws drawn by 
human muscle, but many native persons seemed 
to enjoy the luxury. I remember in particular 
a prominent native leaning back in one of these 
vehicles taking much comfort. He had great 
rings in his ears. The rings were at least two 



122 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

inches in diameter, and when our carriage passed 
him he bowed and smiled. They have some very 
neat carriages and the automobile was met with 
quite often. 

The city seems to be provided with all the 
modern conveniences such as tram cars, tele- 
phones, electric lights, etc, but in the method of 
doing most of their work they seem to be one 
hundred years behind the times. 

We saw a large company of natives packing 
coal in sacks on their back to a small flat boat 
which, when loaded, would be rowed or' towed out 
into the harbor alongside one of the large steam- 
ers and unloaded by the same method. It was a 
hard, hot task; no wonder they were nearly 
naked. 

The City of Colombo has a population of about 
two hundred thousand, and of that number per- 
haps less than three thousand are Europeans. 
Some English gentlemen have very fine resi- 
dences in the city, but some of the very finest 
residences belong to the natives. The richest 
people on the island are some of the natives who 
own large landed estates. They derive their in- 
comes from the cocoanut tree and from the plum- 
bago mines. 

The Island of Ceylon has been under British 
control for nearly a century. Other European 
powers attempted for more than three hundred 
years to colonize it but made a failure. When 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 123 

the British got control of it there were less than 
one million people on the island, but now it con- 
tains more than three millions and they seem 
contented and happy. Buddhism is the prevailing 
religion, but there are many Brahmans and Mo- 
hammedans and about two hundred and eighty 
thousand Christians, more than two-thirds of 
whom are Roman Catholics. 

I think that I never saw a jollier lot of passen- 
gers in my life than were on the Steamer India 
on the morning of March 30th as she sailed out 
of the harbor of Colombo. Nearly every one of 
us was humbugged by the natives. We knew that 
we were humbugged but we had the experience 
and it was worth more to us than the money, so 
we considered ourselves fortunate. 

We hired a carriage for five shillings each for 
the trip. After the trip the driver wanted extra 
pay. The man who got up the party wanted pay. 
We hired a boat to take Us to the ship and agreed 
to pay sixpence each, although the regular price 
was five pence. When we got to the ship they de- 
manded more, but in this case we refused to pa,y 
it. We had several similar experiences. 

They have no sense of honor. They asked 
enormous prices for the trinkets they had to sell, 
and in many cases got three times what they were 
worth. 

A lady who sat next me at table and who had 
lived in Colombo for five years, said it was no 



124 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

use to send missionaries amongst them as they 
will do anything and believe anything for money. 
She said they seemed contented and happy and 
it would be better to help the poor in London as 
they are ten times more in need of assistance than 
the natives of Colombo. 

About thirty-five or forty of our passengers 
remained at Colombo and about the same number 
of new ones came on board. The total number of 
passengers, both first and second cabin, on board 
was about two hundred and eighty. From the 
purser I learned that the crew consisted of two 
hundred and eighty-one all told, of which number 
one hundred and seventy-five were native Indians. 
The cargo was mostly fruit, but there was a little 
wool, copper and grain on board. The fruit was 
kept at a temperature of forty degrees Fahren- 
heit and was tested twice a day. 

We arrived at Aden, Arabia, at two a. m. on 
April 5th. The steamer called there to get mail, 
and while there it took on about two hundred tons 
of coal. It did not go to the shore but anchored 
about one-half mile away. None of the passen- 
gers went ashore as the steamer remained in the 
harbor only about four hours, leaving there just 
after sunrise. There were several large ships in 
the harbor. The place belong to the British and it 
is strongly fortified. It is of importance as a coal- 
ing station for steamers. There are great rocky 
hills all around the coast. Everything was dry 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 125 

and parched up, yet the scene was quite pictur- 
esque. The scarcity of fresh water is a great 
drawback to the place. It has in a measure to 
depend upon purified salt water for its supply. 
I wished to see the sun rise over the hills of 
Arabia, but I was somewhat disappointed as it 
was cloudy and we could not see the sun at all, 
but the reflection on the clouds above looked 
rather pretty. 

The weather was very fine all the way from 
Colombo to Aden and we all enjoyed the trip very 
much. There was scarcely a white-cap to be seen 
and often the sea was as smooth as glass. As 
the route was over one of the main ocean high- 
ways, we passed many ships, several of which 
were not far from us, and this helped to enliven 
the trip. There were many very small flying 
fish in the sea like those we saw in the Pacific. 
Often in the evening the phosphorus light re- 
flected on the water was very beautiful. The 
different kinds of sports, the concerts and the 
music made the long hours pass quickly away. 
The passengers were first class, intelligent and 
social, which helped to make the trip a delightful 
one. 

Soon after we left Aden we passed through 
the Strait of Babel-Mandeb, which is about fif- 
teen miles wide, and entered the Red* Sea. The 
water of the Red Sea is a light, greenish color; 
at any rate, it is not so dark as the Indian Ocean. 



126 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

About three p. m. we passed Mocha, a fortified 
seaport town in Arabia. It is important because 
of its coffee trade. In the evening we passed a 
lighthouse on a rocky island along the Arabian 
coast. The light would flash twice every ten or 
twelve seconds. The rocks were quite close. We 
were in sight of land all day on both sides of the 
ship. The coast of Arabia was high and moun- 
tainous and seemed quite barren. 

April 6th was a very fine day. We saw no 
land. The sea was smooth and the weather was 
fair and cool. April 7th was another fine day. 
Passed several ships. Towards evening we could 
see land on the left. We had a concert on board 
this evening. It consisted of songs, a recitation, 
(Crossing the Bar,) a violin and piano duet, a 
song, a lecturette, (An American's Notes on 
Travel) and then several other songs, closing" 
with God save the King. It was all very inter- 
esting. 

On April 8th we passed two or three light- 
houses on the African coast and for a long time 
we were not more than thirty-five or forty rods 
from the shore, and at noon we could see land 
on both sides of the ship. The sea was quite nar- 
row now, the rocks were of a reddish cast and 
quite barren, but towards evening the Arabian 
shore seemed to be nothing but white sand. The 
African side was sandy and barren also, but not 
quite so white. We all were anxious to know 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 127 

where the Israelites crossed over the Red Sea dry 
sho*d, but no one seemed able to tell us. 

The steamer stopped at Suez near the en- 
trance to the canal a little before eight p. m. A 
great many natives came on board at Suez to sell 
fancy work, shawls, fancy boxes and many other 
things. It reminded me of Colombo. I think the 
mail was all sent ashore as soon as we arrived 
at Suez so as to go by railway to Port Said to 
catch the early boat for Italy, and then overland 
to London. The hustle with the mail so as to 
send the latest news put me in mind of our own 
people. After stopping about two hours the 
steamer proceeded on its journey and soon en- 
tered the canal. The next morning at five o'clock 
the steamer was stopping at number thirty-seven, 
and I soon learned that we were thirty-seven 
miles from Port Said. I was pleased that the re- 
mainder of our ride on the canal would be by day- 
light. Our steamer was fastened to the right 
bank, and soon a steamer called the Saint Kilda 
passed us. We remained here until four more 
ships passed, and then our steamer was unfast- 
ened and we passed on. It was a fine sight to 
see these ships one after another pass us in the 
canal. They looked so majestic as they sailed 
away from us through the narrow channel. As 
a matter of course, it is a large canal but not 
large enough for two steamers to pass one an- 
other unless one is fastened up rather close to 



128 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the bank, as in many places there is much fine 
sand. The five ships were about one hour in 
passing us. They were only a short distance 
apart. 

The next thing of interest that met our view 
was a great many natives with about thirty cam- 
els. They were digging on the east side of the 
canal with the object of making it wider. It was 
amusing to see how they removed the dirt. Each 
one of the camels had a box fastened on its back 
with two compartments, one on each side. These 
camels would be compelled to lie down while the 
boxes were filled with dirt; then they would be 
compelled to get up with these heavy burdens on 
their backs. Sometimes the load would be so 
heavy that the camel would not or could not get 
up, and then the native driver would set up a 
terrible yelling and urging and finally the camel 
would rise with its heavy load. These loads were 
taken back a short distance and dumped. 

It was a beautiful Sunday morning and it 
looked so strange to see them all at work. Soon 
after this we passed a bucket dredge which I 
think unloaded its rubbish or dirt upon a flat 
boat, and near by a suction dredge was at work. 
It put the dirt and slush through a pipe, and it 
was forced far back from the bank. 

On the west bank was a railway running most 
of the way close to the canal, and later in the 
morning we saw a train upon it. All of these 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAD3 129 

things had a tendency to make the trip very in- 
teresting. The country is flat and in some places 
lower than the banks of the canal. In fact, the 
canal was made through some swampy places as 
well as through several lakes. We must have 
passed some higher banks during the night. 

The general trend of the canal is north and 
south, but there are several curves in it. As 
we get nearer Port Said, there are a few pleas- 
ant villages upon the west bank and I think that 
a ferry is maintained at some of these places. 
Along the canal towards Port Said, the land ' is 
sandy and swampy and not good for farming 
purposes. At some places quite a quantity of 
sand had washed into the canal, and at other 
places a good stone wall protected the bank so 
that the sand could do no damage. A great many 
small sail boats ply up and down the canal. They 
can pass the large steamers any place without 
trouble. They are quite small and very narrow. 
Some of them were loaded with stone. As we 
pursued our journey we saw several other gangs 
of laborers with trucks on a temporary track. 
These trucks were loaded at the bank of the 
canal, run back by hand and dumped. As it was 
lower back from the canal the natives had great 
sport starting the load and then jumping on for 
a ride. When the car stopped it was dumped and 
run back for another load. We passed several 



130 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

more dredging machines before we reached Port 
Said. Just before noon we passed the Euphrates, 
a large ship loaded with French soldiers. 

Several travelers told us that it would be very- 
hot going through the canal, but it was a cool 
morning and we all enjoyed the trip immensely. 

At one place there seemed to be a body of 
water on the left bank of the canal over which 
appeared to be a large flock of birds, but this 
proved to be a mirage or delusion. 

The purser told me that it would cost seven- 
teen hundred pounds for the India to run through 
the canal. It cost some of the larger steamers 
more than ten thousand dollars to go through. 

We arrived at Port Said just at noon and an- 
chored opposite a large steamer loaded with Brit- 
ish soldiers. The harbor looked very pretty as 
we approached it. We had lunch on board and 
then were taken ashore by one of Thomas Cook 
& Son's agents, who assisted us through the cus- 
toms house, which was soon accomplished as our 
baggage was only slightly examined and some of 
it was not opened. 

Very few passengers stopped here and the 
steamer soon proceeded on its journey to London. 

At Port Said these large steamers anchor out 
in the harbor and the passengers are taken ashore 
by a small steamer or by row boats. 

The Suez Canal is an enormous benefit to all 
the nations of Europe, and it is especially so to 



ADELAIDE TO PORT SAID 131 

England as it enables her to reach her Indian and 
other Eastern possessions much sooner than by 
sailing around Africa. There is a wonderful 
amount of traffic on the Canal and some very- 
large ships pass through it. There is some talk 
of making it wider and deeper so as to accom- 
modate some of the still larger modern vessels. 
Great Britain has a controlling interest in the 
canal, but all ships have to pay toll. 

Port Said takes its name from Said Pasha, 
the Viceroy of Egypt, who granted the concession 
for the construction of the canal. The town has 
a population of about sixty-five thousand, and it 
is one of the greatest coaling stations in the 
world. More than one million and a half tons of 
coal being annually supplied to the steamers. A 
large statue of Ferdinand De Lesseps, under 
whose direction the Suez Canal was proposed and 
successfully completed, stands out upon a sub- 
stantial breakwater at the right hand side of the 
harbor on entering it from the sea. 

It seems so strange that here in the East they 
take such little pains to save human muscle. 
I presume it is because it is the cheapest 
thing they have. In digging a cellar and 
foundation for a building at Port Said, we 
saw twenty-five or thirty natives carrying the 
dirt in baskets on their shoulders some dis- 
tance away and dump it and go after an- 
other load. At Colombo, Aden, Port Said and 



132 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

other places the coal for the large steamers was 
all packed on the backs of the natives, and 
emptied into the hold of the ship. I do not think 
that there is a white man on earth who would do 
that work. I have seen more than one hundred 
of these natives putting coal into a large ship, and 
they were actually on the run and were still urged 
to go faster as they seemed in such a hurry to 
get the work done. 



CHAPTER X 

THE HOLY LAND 

AFTER calling at the United States and 
English consulate offices, the post office 
and the Bank of Egypt, Ltd., we went to 
Thomas Cook & Son's to complete arrangements 
for a trip to the Holy Land. As the season was 
getting late for tourists to go to the Holy Land 
and as the next Sunday would be Easter Sunday, 
there was quite a rush to that place, and it was 
with much difficulty that we got an opportunity 
to go. We were advised to go to Cairo first as 
there would be no room on any of the steamers 
that left for Jaffa for several days. We, four 
of us, finally completed arrangements to go to the 
Holy Land by agreeing to pay the first and sec- 
ond engineers of the steamer Maria Teresa extra 
for their rooms. Mr. Stevens and his wife took 
the first engineer's cabin, and my brother and 
myself took the second. We left Port Said on 
Monday morning. 

The steamer was a small one and did not have 
much cabin room. The deck was crowded with 
people, mostly Egyptians and Arabians. The 
Arabians were lying around on the decks so thick 

(133) 



134 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

that one could scarcely get about without step- 
ping on them. We had a seven course dinner at 
seven p. m. There was plenty of it but it had an 
unpleasant taste, although it seemed to be per- 
fectly clean. All of the table waiters wore white 
gloves. 

On April 11th I arose at five a. m. It was 
quite foggy and passengers were lying around 
everywhere on deck. Several Mohammedan 
women had bands around their heads and cover- 
ing over their faces, which is a custom among 
them. The sea was very smooth and at seven a. 
m. we could see Palestine in the distance. We 
arrived at Jaffa about eight o'clock and anchored 
about half a mile from the shore. None of the 
passengers were permitted to go ashore until one- 
thirty p. m., as we were held in quarantine until 
that time so that the passengers could be thor- 
oughly examined. As soon as we were permitted 
to leave the steamer, a regular bedlam broke 
loose, no doubt caused by the different boatmen 
trying to get passengers for their particular boat. 
This confusion lasted for ten or fifteen minutes, 
and then the passengers were quietly helped down 
the stairway to the row boats below, and as soon 
as one of the boats was filled it was rowed away 
and another took its place, and this was kept up 
until all the passengers left the steamer. 

Our party of four, with six or eight other pas- 
sengers, were taken ashore, by some of Cook's 



THE HOLY LAND 135 

boatmen, where we were met by one of Cook's 
agents. Before we left Port Said we had been 
instructed to call at Cook's office when we reached 
Jaffa, but as the train for Jerusalem had been 
waiting for nearly one hour we had no time to 
do so but were hustled to the train by their agent. 
We walked along the narrow lanes and streets 
for a short distance and then took a carriage for 
the railway station. 

Cook's agent furnished a dragoman who went 
with us to Jerusalem. The distance by railway 
from Jaffa to Jerusalem is about fifty-four miles. 
Soon after leaving Jaffa we passed many pretty 
orange and lemon plantations and also an ex- 
tensive olive grove. The train made a short stop 
at Lydda and then left for Ramleh, where it re- 
mained seven or eight minutes. There is a tradi- 
tion that this place is the Arimathea of the New 
Testament and that Joseph who furnished the 
tomb for our Lord lived here and that the Latin 
Convent stands on the site once occupied by Nico- 
demus's house. Our dragoman would point out 
these places to us, yet it is said that there is no 
historical evidence that the tradition is correct. 
We next stopped at Sejed for ten minutes. The 
railway is now running along the valley of Sorek, 
famous for its ancient viticulture and also for the 
story of Sampson and Delilah. Soon after we 
passed Sejed, the birthplace of Sampson is 
pointed out. It is on our left on a hilltop about 



136 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

a mile away. After making two or three more 
stops, we arrived at Jerusalem at six p. m. 

The country was rocky and barren for several 
miles before we reached Jerusalem, with scarcely 
anything green in sight. There were several 
companies of soldiers at the station when we ar- 
rived. After walking a short distance we took a 
carriage for the Grand New Hotel. In entering 
the city we went through Jaffa Gate. The Tower 
of David is near the Hotel and Cook's office is not 
far away. Our company of four had a first class 
dragoman the entire time that we spent in the 
Holy Land. His ancestors were Arabians and 
he was a strict Mohammedan, but an intelligent 
guide. He had a very odd name but told us to 
call him Charlie. 

On April 12th we visited the Dome of the 
Rock, also called the Mosque of Omar. It stands 
upon the summit of Mount Moriah and is said 
to be on the very spot where Oran had his thresh- 
ing floor, where Abraham offered up Isaac and 
where the Jewish Temple stood. 

No doubt the most sacred place in Jerusalem 
is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Upon en- 
tering the church by the main door, the first of 
the many places of interest pointed out is the 
Stone of Unction, where the body of Jesus was 
laid for annointing when it was taken from the 
cross. It is said that this Stone, which so many 
pilgrims kiss, is not the real Stone of Unction but 



THE HOLY LAND 137 

that the real one lies beneath the present slab, 
which was placed here in 1818. Near by is a 
stone pointed out as being the Station of Mary, 
marking the spot where she stood while the body 
of Jesus was being annointed. A few steps fur- 
ther on on the right we entered a rotunda, the 
dome of which is sixty-five feet in diameter. The 
Holy Sepulchre stands in the very center of the 
rotunda. It is within a small chapel and is only 
six by seven feet in area, nearly one-half of 
which is occupied by a marble sarcophagus which 
is shown as the Tomb of the Lord. The chapel is 
lit by more than forty lamps which are always 
burning. Not far from the sepulchre is a ves- 
tibule called the Angels' Chapel, in which is part 
of the stone which the angels rolled away from 
the mouth of the tomb. Near the chapel of the 
Syrians is a rocky grotto or cave with tombs. We 
were furnished with candles to enter this grotto 
or cave and saw the tombs of Nicodemus and 
Joseph of Arimathea and also several other tombs 
in the cave. 

The chapel of the Finding of the Cross is very 
interesting. There is a legend which explains 
how the Empress Helena decided which was the 
true cross of the three which were found here. 
The Chapel of the Crown of Thorns, where, ac- 
cording to tradition, the Lord sat when the Crown 
of Thorns was placed on his head, is shown. 

The Chapel of the Exaltation of the Cross is 



138 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

supposed to be the actual Calvary. The furnish- 
ings in this chapel are very expensive, and some 
writer has said to have left it bare and plain 
would have been more appropriate. 

There are several other interesting places in 
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but sufficient 
have been mentioned to show that it is one of the 
most wonderful and sacred places in the world. 
The New German Church is not far from this 
place. 

We went up into the tower of that church and 
had an excellent view of the City of Jerusalem 
and the surrounding country. 

Early in the morning of April 13th, our party 
with a dragoman and a driver left Jerusalem for 
Jericho by the Jaffa Gate. Soon after leaving the 
city we got an excellent view of it and the sur- 
rounding country. The route winds along the 
slopes of the Mount of Olives and we soon passed 
the site of ancient Bethany. Just beyond Beth- 
any is the Russian Church, supposed to be on the 
spot where Martha met the Lord after the death 
of her brother Lazarus. 

After passing several other interesting places, 
We arrived at the Inn of the Good Samaritan. 
This Inn is supposed to mark the place where a 
certain Samaritan helped the man who fell among 
thieves (Luke X, 25-27). We passed several 
other places of interest before we arrived at Jeri- 



THE HOLY LAND 139 

cho, but they will be mentioned on some of the 
following pages. 

From Jerusalem until we get near Jericho, the 
country is hilly, mountainous and quite barren. 
Many sheep and goats were grazing on the scanty 
vegetation. We arrived at the modern Jericho a 
little before noon and drove directly to the site 
of ancient Jericho, which is about one mile far- 
ther away. Elisha's Fountain is near the site of 
ancient Jericho. There is nothing to be seen of 
the once mighty city except a few ruins. The 
foundations seem to indicate a very large city. 
Quarantanra, or the Mount of Temptation, is 
pointed out as the place where the Lord was 
tempted of the Devil. The Mount of Temptation 
was steep and rugged on the side next to us. We 
did not approach it. It is said to be honeycombed 
by holes and caverns and that hermits still retire 
there for fasting and prayer. 

We returned to modern Jericho and had lunch 
at one p. m. at the Hotel Belle Vue and after pro- 
viding ourselves with souvenir bottles to get 
water from the River Jordan we started on the 
round trip from Jericho to the Jordan and the 
Dead Sea. About one-half hour after we left Jeri- 
cho we passed a tree said to stand on the site 
of Gilgal, where the Israelites first camped west 
of the Jordan. There are several Biblical refer- 
ences to this place in the Book of Joshua. We 



140 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

reached the River Jordan at the Pilgrims' Bath- 
ing Place. This is said to be the place at which 
our Lord was baptized. We saw a few Pilgrims 
bathing in the river. We went up the river a 
short distance in a row boat and then crossed 
over to the east side, but as there was a thicket 
where we landed and as it had rained the night 
before, which made it somewhat wet, it was 
rather uninviting and we soon returned. The 
river is said to be from eighty to one hundred 
and sixty feet wide. I do not think that it was 
much more than one hundred feet wide where we 
crossed it. The water was quite dirty and I sup- 
posed that it was caused by the recent rain, but 
our dragoman said that it is always dirty. It 
must be caused by its winding course and im- 
mense fall. The banks of the river are very low 
at the Pilgrims' Bathing Place. I was very much 
disappointed at the appearance of the river. 
After filling our souvenir bottles with Jordan 
water, we left for the Dead Sea, where we ar- 
rived about four p. m. 

I thought the Sea was quite pretty because of 
the clean gravel and small stones along its shore. 
The sea is about fifty miles long and nearly ten 
miles wide at its widest part. It seems to me so 
strange that this sea, which is not far from the 
Mediterranean, should be nearly thirteen hun- 
dred feet below its level. The north end of the 
sea is more than thirteen hundred feet deep, but 



THE HOLY LAND 141 

the south end is very shallow, being from three 
to four feet deep near the shore and about ten or 
twelve feet deep near the center. It was called 
the Dead Sea because of its supposed deadly char- 
acter. I remember very well when a boy I was 
taught to believe that no bird could fly across it 
because of its poisonous nature. While at the 
Dead Sea, our dragoman tried to point out to us 
on the opposite shore the place at which Lot's 
wife became a pillar of salt, and it is said that 
some early travelers claim to have seen her re- 
mains. 

We drove from the Dead Sea direct to Jericho. 
The whole of this round trip was through sandy 
plains and over barren sand hills. We arrived at 
Jericho about five-thirty p. m. There Was a very 
high wind during most of our way from the Dead 
Sea which would blow sand in our eyes. We 
were, however, very fortunate as it rained the 
night before or the sand would have been so bad 
as to have nearly blinded us. It sprinkled a little 
on our trip back and we saw a beautiful rainbow. 
We expected to be caught in a terrible wind and 
rain storm, in fact, we were quite sure of it, but 
it all blew over. As a whole, on this round trip 
the country seemed very barren and unproduc- 
tive. We passed some sterile places where noth- 
ing would grow, and at other places there would 
be a little salt-bush or other hardy vegetation. 
We stopped in Jericho at the Hotel Belle Vue for 



142 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the night. We left Jericho for Jerusalem on 
Good Friday, April 14th, about six o'clock in the 
morning. 

After driving for about one hour we caught 
a glimpse of the Dead Sea from the foot of a 
steep hill. All the men in the carriage were re- 
quested to get out and walk up the hill as it was 
too steep for the horses. I presume we walked 
about half a mile before we entered the carriage 
again. We were shown the place where Elijah 
was fed by the ravens near the Brook Cherith. 
A Greek monastery is near by and part of an old 
Roman wall is at the side of the road. 

We arrived at the Inn of the Good Samaritan 
about eighty-thirty a. m. and fed our horses. 
Fifteen other carriages were at the Inn when we 
stopped there and several others came and went 
away while we were there. We remained there 
a little more than an hour and then left for Beth- 
any, where we visited the so-called Tomb of 
Lazarus. It is in a vault and must be twenty-five 
or thirty feet below the surface of the ground. 
We took candles to enter the tomb. It is a won- 
derful place. It is said that the present walls 
were built around and over it about the time of 
the Crusades. We saw Simon the Leper's house, 
and passed by Martha and Mary's house. All 
these places appeared very odd. Our dragoman 
had ordered an excellent lunch before we left 
Jericho, and now we went a short distance from 



THE HOLY LAND 143 

Martha and Mary's house on a little hill in a lot 
sowed to barley and in which stood eight olive 
trees, and selected a comfortable place and ate it. 
The lunch had variety. It was well prepared and 
there was an abundance of it. 

When we went to Jericho on the 13th, we 
passed fifteen or twenty donkeys loaded with 
large pieces of stone which the natives were tak- 
ing from the quarry to the foundation of a build- 
ing along the roadway. Some of this stone was 
dressed but the most of it was in the rough. 
These pieces of stone were tied together with 
cords in such a manner that one, two or three 
of them would lie on one side of the donkey's 
back and the same number would lie on the other 
side. The donkey would travel along under this 
heavy load with nothing to hold it on its back 
except these cords or ropes. There was not even 
a pad of any kind between the load and the 
donkey's back. It was surely a crude, cruel way 
to transport rough stone. We saw camels with 
heavy loads of stone also fastened in the same 
manner. When they reached the foundation of 
the building they were made to lie down and then 
the loads would be unfastened. 

When we went to Jericho we saw very few 
people on the road, but when we returned we met 
hundreds of men, women and children and many 
of the women had very small babies with them. 
They seemed to represent every grade of society 



144 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

from the very poor to the very rich. They were 
mostly pilgrims going to the Moslem shrine, the 
traditional burial place of Moses, also to Jericho 
and the Pilgrims' Bathing Place on the Jordan. 
Many of the Pilgrims were riding donkeys and 
some of the donkeys had double riders, a grown 
person in front and a boy or girl on behind, and 
still others would carry a mother and her very 
small baby. Now and then a donkey would have 
two boxes fastened on its back, one on each side, 
and a person would be in each box. Some of the 
donkeys were led along with large packs on their 
backs, and still others carried no loads of any 
kind. They had a few camels with them. They 
were, used for carrying heavy packs on their 
backs. Most of the pilgrims were on foot and 
many of them of both sexes were barefooted. 
How they could get along over the rough roads 
in that condition was a mystery to me. As this 
was Good Friday, in addition to all of these trav- 
elers there was an organized band of pilgrims ad- 
vertised to leave Jerusalem some time shortly 
after noon, but for some reason or other they did 
not leave the city until about three o'clock. After 
lunch at Bethany we drove to the Jewish ceme- 
tery not far from Jerusalem, to see the above 
mentioned band of pilgrims pass on their way to 
the Jordan. Both sides of the roadway in front 
of the cemetery were lined with carriages that 
were waiting for the procession to pass. It was 



THE HOLY LAND 145 

a mast peculiar one. First there were a few 
guards and soldiers on horseback with guns, fol- 
lowed by a band. Then a leader and six other 
persons walking in the middle of the road would 
bow down and sing and sway back and forth in 
such an energetic manner as to nearly exhaust 
themselves. Then there was another squad of 
fifteen or twenty persons, each one of whom had 
a cane. They would cry out and toss their canes 
up into the air. These were followed by several 
hundred pilgrims. There must have been more 
than one thousand spectators along the highway 
when the procession passed the cemetery. 

We arrived at the hotel in Jerusalem about 
four p. m. After resting awhile we went to the 
Jews' Wailing Place. It is along the outer wall 
of Solomon's Temple. The place is about a hun- 
dred feet long. The Jews meet here every Fri- 
day afternoon from three to five p. m. and stand 
with their faces toward the wall and read some 
portion of the Scriptures and lament and wail. 
It is a solemn scene. 

On April 15th we visited the Armenian Con- 
vent. It is one of the richest and largest con- 
vents in the city. Within it is the Church of 
Saint James at the place where it is said he was 
beheaded. There is a chair here called Saint 
James's chair which is used only once a year. 
The convent is capable of accommodating about 

10 



146 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

three thousand people. When we left the con- 
vent, the attendants sprinkled rose water on our 
hands. 

Just outside of Zion Gate is the Palace of 
Caiaphas. It is said to be at the place where 
Peter stood when he denied the Lord. A short 
distance from this place is a mosque known as 
the Tomb of David. 

On Saturday afternoon, April 15th, we left 
Jerusalem by the Jaffa Gate for Bethlehem, 
which lies nearly five miles south. We entered 
the Valley of the Hinnon and then passed along 
the Valley of the Giants. On our left was the 
British Ophthalmic Hospital and on our right was 
the railway station. On the left near the British 
Hospital is the traditional tree upon which Judas 
hanged himself, and near by is the country home 
of Caiaphas, the high priest. This is called the 
Valley of Rephaim and it is on the boundary line 
of Judah and Benjamin. It was here that David 
defeated the Philistines. There, is a long gentle 
rise and near the top of it is the Well of the Magi. 
It was here that the wise men stopped to draw 
water, and when they saw the star reflected in 
the well they followed it until the child Jesus was 
found. On the top of the hill to the left is the 
Convent of Elijah. There is a smooth piece of 
stone with a depression in it said to be worn by 
Elijah as he lay on it after fleeing from Jezebel. 

We stopped at the tomb of Rachel, which is 



THE HOLY LAND 147 

only about a mile from Bethlehem. It is said 
there can be no doubt that this site is the scene 
of the touching story of Rachel's death, because 
it is revered by Christians and Moslems as well 
as by the Jews. 

Bethlehem has a population of six or eight 
thousand. The streets are narrow and steep. 
The first place visited after reaching Bethlehem 
was the Church of the Nativity, which is on the 
spot where Christ was born. The Church of the 
Nativity is subdivided among the Greeks, Latins 
and Armenians. The chapel or grotto of the Na- 
tivity is a cave in the rock about twenty feet be- 
low the floor of the choir, and it is approached 
by two staircases. Descending by either of the 
staircases, the visitor enters a vault about thirty- 
three feet by eleven feet, cased with Italian mar- 
ble, decorated with lamps, figures of saints, em- 
broidery and other ornaments. A silver star on 
the floor indicates the spot where our Savior was 
born. Above this spot sixteen lamps are always 
burning. It is said that six of these belong to 
the Greeks and five each to the Latins and Ar- 
menians. 

We also visited the Church of Saint Catherine. 
It is nicely decorated. A short distance south of 
the Church of Nativity is the Milk Grotto, where 
the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus were 
secluded before the fight into Egypt. The well 
of Bethlehem or David's Well, is interesting as 



148 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

being the well from which David so much de- 
sired to have a drink of water. The Shepherds' 
Field is supposed to be the place where the shep- 
herds were watching their flock by night and 
where they received "the good tiding of great 
joy." A wall surrounded this field, in which 
there were standing fine olive trees. The Grotto 
of the Shepherds is in this field, and it is said 
that this is the spot where the shepherds beheld 
the vision of the angels. After visiting several 
other interesting places and buying a few souv- 
enirs, we returned to Jerusalem. 

On Easter Sunday, April 16th, we attended 
the American Mission Church outside the walls 
of Jerusalem. The church was near the British 
Consulate. We went out at the New Gate and 
returned by the Jaffa Gate. The regular preacher 
was on a vacation and his assistant preached a 
sermon on The Resurrection. Very few people 
were present. 

After lunch we went through the markets. 
They were very dirty. They had quite a variety 
of goods for sale. We went through the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre again. It is always inter- 
esting. We went to the Jewish Synagogue but 
could not get inside as it was locked. 

April 17th was very rainy and we had to take 
a closed carriage, which somewhat obstructed 
our view. We passed the Church of Saint George, 
Tomb of the Kings, Kidron Valley. After cross- 



THE HOLY LAND 149 

ing the valley the road ascends to the ridge of 
Scopus from which there is a magnificent view of 
the city on the right and the Jordan Valley and 
the Dead Sea on the left. Then we passed an 
enclosure known as Viri Galilaei. About one- 
half hour after we started we reached the small 
modern village on the summit of Olivet. The 
large building belonging to the Mohammedans 
stands on the site which from the fourth century 
has been shown as the place from which the Lord 
ascended to Heaven. The footprints of Christ are 
shown here. The Holy City lies before us ; on the 
east is the Dome of the Rock, also the place where 
Solomon's Temple once stood. The Lord's Prayer 
is in thirty-two different languages on the walls 
of the building. 

One rainy afternoon our dragoman ordered 
donkeys so that we might make a tour around the 
city outside of the walls. My brother and I made 
this trip alone with the guide as it was too wet 
for the other two of the party to venture out. 
We left the city by the Jaffa Gate and made the 
tour around it with the wall on our left. Going 
south we passed an immense reservoir called 
Birket es Sultan, said to be made in the twelfth 
century, and yet there is a tradition attached to 
this pool fixing it as the place where David beheld 
Bathsheba bathing, but that tradition dates only 
from the fifteenth century. South of the city 
almost opposite the Zion Gate is the Hill of Evil 



150 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Counsel, said to be the place where Caiaphas, the 
high priest, met the Jews and took counsel how 
they might put Jesus to death. A little farther 
northeast of the Hill of Evil Counsel is Potter's 
Field, said to have been bought with the pieces of 
silver that Judas secured for betraying our Savior 
(Matthew 27, 3-10). 

After passing several other interesting places, 
we reached the pool of Siloam. It is just south 
of the Dung Gate. This pool is said to be fifty- 
three feet long by eighteen feet broad and nine- 
teen feet deep. It was to this place that the blind 
man was sent by the Savior when he said to him, 
"Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (St. John, IX, 
9-7) . Up the valley a little farther we passed the 
Jewish cemetery, where we stopped for more than 
two hours to see the procession go by on Good 
Friday. The ground is covered with tombstones 
up to the Mount of Olives. There are three well- 
known monuments here called the Tombs of 
Zachariah, St. James and Absolom. Going north 
from here, the Mount of Olives is on the right. 
A little farther north is Golden Gate, which is 
closed. We passed the Garden of Gethsemane 
and the Tomb of the Virgin. They are not far 
from Saint Stephen's Gate, through which they 
can be visited by people in the city. The view 
from Saint Stephen's Gate is very pretty, as 
across the narrow valley rises the Mount of Olives 
directly in front of it. 



THE HOLY LAND 151 

From Saint Stephen's Gate we continued our 
tour north and then west past the Gate of Herod 
to the Damascus Gate, which is on the north be- 
tween the two ridges of the city and from which 
a road leads to Samaria and Damascus. There 
are several very interesting places around about 
the Damascus Gate which we did not visit on 
account of the disagreeable weather. When we 
reached the buildings an which fthe models 0)f 
Solomon's Temple are shown, our dragoman left 
our donkeys in charge of a boy and we finished 
our tour on foot. 

These models are supposed to be an exact re- 
production of the Temple with all of its immedi- 
ate surroundings, every part of which is ex- 
plained by an expert who divides the sightseers 
into groups for that purpose. 

After remaining here until the rain slacked 
up a little, we left the place and walked a short 
distance and entered the city through the New 
Gate and soon reached the Hotel. If we had gone 
to the next gate we would have made a complete 
tour of the city outside of its walls. I presume 
the New Gate is so called from the fact that it 
was not opened until the year 1889. It is situ- 
ated on the northwest side of the city between 
Jaffa Gate and the Damascus Gate. 

Jerusalem stands on a mountain ridge, the 
highest point of which is twenty-five hundred and 
forty feet above the Mediterranean Sea, and the 



152 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

walls which surround it are about thirty-five feet 
in height. The distance around the walls of the 
city is only about two and a quarter miles, and 
the space within covers an area of only about 
two hundred and ten acres, nearly one-sixth of 
which is taken up by the Haram-esh-Sherif, or 
Temple Enclosure. The present walls were not 
built until near the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and they do not occupy the exact founda- 
tions of the old ones. The population of Jeru- 
salem is estimated at from fifty to sixty thousand, 
more than one-half of whom are Jews. About 
seven or eight thousand are Christians and the 
remainder are Mohammedans. 

Jerusalem is a queer city and a very filthy 
one. Most of the streets are very narrow and 
some of them are covered so that not a ray of 
sunlight can ever enter them. Goats and donkeys 
are led through these narrow streets and along 
the sides of them where the passengers must pass 
on foot. Under such conditions it does not re- 
quire a vivid imagination to conclude that the 
streets would become extremely filthy. The ba- 
zaars, and especially the fruit and vegetable 
markets, are in a very untidy condition. I re- 
member well the narrow crooked lane or street 
that leads to the Jewsl Wailing Place, and how 
filthy it was, and it was with much pleasure that 
I read the following in the Literary Digest of 
January 3, 1914, page 23 : "Another reform in- 



THE HOLY LAND 153 

stituted by Mr. Straus was the cleaning of the 
street leading to the Wailing Wall, which is part 
of the ruins of the Temple of Solomon, where the 
people go to pray. Until a short time ago the 
street was one of the filthiest in all Jerusalem, 
but at Mr. Straus's orders and expense it is now 
being swept three times a day and kept in per- 
fect condition." 

One of the great needs of the city is a first 
class water supply. Most of the water is obtained 
from shallow wells or cisterns, into which some 
of the filth on the streets must find its way. In 
the article just quoted, I noticed that Mr. Straus 
expects to remedy the evil by "establishing a pure 
water supply system" for the city. But stranger 
than the filth and the deficient water supply, is 
the fact that the different Christian sects that 
meet in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre should 
show such hatred towards one another that when- 
ever any special service is going on, a guard of 
Turkish soldiers is stationed near by to keep 
peace between the rival sects. 

I think most people who visit Jerusalem and 
the Holy Land for the first time are much disap- 
pointed, and the tendency is likely to make the 
average man or woman skeptical. Not that he 
would lose his religion, but that he would be 
shown so many places whose existence could be 
vouched for only by some rather modern tradi- 
tion that he would be inclined to doubt the reality 



154 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

of anything told him. Whatever the cause, I 
found upon inquiry that three-fourths at least of 
the people who visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land 
come away disappointed. 

We left Jerusalem for Jaffa Tuesday morn- 
ing, April 18th, and arrived there a little before 
noon. It was a fine trip. Near Sampson's birth- 
place we saw a few persons with twenty-five or 
thirty camels, all traveling along together. They 
seemed to be going somewhere to load their 
camels with packs. They were plowing at sev- 
eral places along the railway with camels, donk- 
eys and cattle. We passed some very fine barley 
fields, a few of which were getting ripe. 

At Jaffa we had lunch at the hotel just oppo- 
site Cook's office. About the middle of the after- 
noon we took a carriage for the boat landing. 
The heavy trunks and large valises were all car- 
ried to the landing stage by the natives. Three 
or four large trunks would be tied together and 
placed on the back of a person and a strap would 
be put around the pack and over the forehead, 
and in this manner they would carry great loads 
along the streets. Six or eight large suit cases 
would be put into a large sack which would be 
tied up and carried the same as the trunks. The 
carriages could not go the entire way to the land- 
ing stage, and we had quite a ways to walk. At 
the landing stage several row boats were waiting 
for passengers and there was quite a rush, as 



THE HOLY LAND 155 

nearly every one wished to be first. The row boat 
that took our party of four, and ten or eleven 
other passengers to the ship was provided with 
six oarsmen who would row and sing. The ship 
was about a mile from the shore, and as the sea 
was quite rough we had a rather serious time 
getting there. We finally arrived at the ship in 
safety. It was the Orenoque from Marseilles, 
France, to Alexandria, Egypt. A little after 
eight p. m. the ship left for Port Said. 

We met a company of more than thirty on 
the ship who were all traveling under one man- 
agement. We were told that it would be rather 
warm in the Holy Land after the first of April, 
but we did not suffer from the heat in the least. 
In fact, I wore an overcoat nearly one-half of 
the time that we were there. Perhaps it was a 
little cooler than usual for this time of the year. 
It was quite raw and cold the day we left. 

We had a fine voyage from Jaffa to Port Said, 
arriving there on the morning of the 19th. When 
we went through the customs office our baggage 
was checked all right without examination. After 
lunch we arranged for a drive around the city 
and visited a mosque and the markets. 



CHAPTER XL 

• EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 

EARLY in the morning of April 20th we 
left Port Said for Cairo. The railway 
follows the Suez Canal until it reaches 
Ismailia, a town with a population of about six 
or seven thousand. The fresh water canal from 
Zagazig passes through this place. It' is used for 
navigation as well as for irrigation purposes. 
We passed several towns on the way here, the 
largest of which was Kantarah. When we 
stopped at that place we saw from seventy-five to 
one hundred camels there, most of them with 
large packs on their backs. The railway trip 
along the canal was very interesting. We could 
see the dredges, camels and natives at work just 
as we saw them when we went through the canal 
ten or twelve days earlier. We were so close to 
the canal most of the time that we could read the 
names on some of the large steamers. There was 
also quite a number of small steamers on the 
canal, as well as many small narrow sail boats. 
The country from Port Said to Ismailia is low 
and sandy most of the way, and there was very 
little vegetation to be seen. When we got within 

(156) 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 157 

ten or twelve miles of Ismailia the wind began to 
blow rather briskly, and we had to close the win- 
dows to keep the sand out of the car. Soon after 
we passed Ismailia we saw some patches of vege- 
tation, and these patches became larger, prettier 
and more numerous until we reached Tel-el-Kebir, 
and from there on to Cairo we passed through 
one of the prettiest and most productive coun- 
tries I ever saw. Some of the patches of heavy 
wheat and barley were just getting ripe, and at 
several different places the natives were cutting 
small patches of alfalfa with sickles for the pur- 
pose of feeding it green to their stock. At sev- 
eral different places, quite a number of natives 
dressed in white seemed to be planting something, 
perhaps cotton. At one place we saw a native 
plowing with two small cattle, while at another 
place an ox and a camel hitched together were 
used for the same purpose. The ox seemed to 
be too fast for the camel. We passed several 
native villages, the small huts of which were 
made of sod or sun-dried brick. Most of these 
huts were very low, not more than six or seven 
feet high, and in some cases the only roof or 
covering was a little hay or straw. We saw them 
irrigating land at several places. It was gener- 
ally done by hitching an ox, a cow or a camel to 
a sweep attached to a water wheel. Before we 
entered this first class district, we saw a few 
sheep, cattle and horses on pasture. We also 



158 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

saw several flocks of goats with shepherds look- 
ing after them. 

We passed through Zagazig on our way to 
Cairo. It is a city of some importance, with a 
population of at least forty or fifty thousand. 
We arrived at Cairo at one p. m. and took a cab 
for Hotel Bristol, sometimes called Hotel du Nil. 

Cairo, which is the capital of modern Egypt, 
is a city of more than half a million inhabitants. 
It is situated on the right bank of the Nile about 
one hundred and thirty-five miles southeast of 
Alexandria. It has a few public gardens and fine 
streets, but most of the streets are narrow and 
crooked, many of them not more than fifteen or 
twenty feet wide, and many of the narrow lanes 
are not more than one-half that width. The 
streets upon which tramways are located are not 
more than forty or fifty feet wide. In my notes 
on Jerusalem I spoke of its being a dirty, filthy 
place, but after spending four or five days here 
there was a question in my mind as to which was 
the more filthy, Cairo or Jerusalem. Often a nar- 
row, filthy street in either city would lead to a 
substantial building, perhaps plain on the outside 
but so very beautiful within that one is surprised 
that it is situated amidst such filthy and uninvit- 
ing surroundings. 

Old Cairo, which is a suburb of Cairo and 
really a part of it, has a great number of narrow 
lanes and passages. The houses frequently over- 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 159 

hang the way until they nearly meet overhead, 
thus excluding the rays of the sun. 

The bazaars (markets) of Cairo are very in- 
teresting and are considered as one of its chief 
attractions. At these places one can procure fine 
porcelain, glassware, gold work, precious stones 
and many other souvenirs. A trip through the 
bazaars is well worth while. 

There are said to be more than four hundred 
mosques in the city. We visited four or five of 
the most important ones. Before entering a 
mosque the native will remove his shoes and put 
on a pair of sandals, and the tourist is furnished 
with a pair which is put over his shoes by an 
attendant before he is permitted to enter the 
sacred place. One of the most interesting 
mosques that we visited was the Mosque of Ma- 
homed Ali, sometimes called the Alabaster 
Mosque from the fact that its interior is lined 
with Oriental alabaster. It has a very pretty ceil- 
ing and cloister, and it contains the tomb of Ma- 
homed Ali. From the back of this mosque we had 
an excellent view of the city and the group of 
pyramids seven or eight miles away as well as of 
old Cairo, the Island of Rhoda and the Nile. It 
is a very pretty view, and some tourists consider 
it the finest view in the world. There are no seats 
in the mosques and a sameness runs through all 
of them, so that a visit to a few of them is suffi- 
cient. 



160 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

There is quite a number of churches in Cairo. 
The most important is the Coptic Church known 
as the Hanging Church, so-called because of its 
height above the ground and because it is ap- 
proached by a flight of stairs. The young man 
who showed us through this church was a brother 
of the priest who officiated there. It is called an 
orthodox church, although it is neither like the 
Greek Catholic Church nor the Roman Catholic. 

One morning we visited the Mohammedan 
University but had to put on sandals before we 
could enter it. All of the students take off their 
shoes before entering. Some of them would carry 
their shoes with them to have them ready to put 
on when they left the place. Just as we entered 
the University we saw several hundred students 
sitting on the floor reading the Koran, and soon 
after this we came to an open place, perhaps one 
hundred feet square, paved with stone, and a 
great many students were sitting in this open 
space in the sun reading. At another place sev- 
eral hundred small boys were reading. The last 
room that we visited was very large, and here 
services are held every Friday. The students are 
taught to read the Koran, and some of them 
translate it into English. The best scholars go 
out into the city to preach. 

From the University we went to the Library. 
It did not seem to contain many printed books, 
but it was full of old manuscripts, many of which 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 161 

were written on skins, and some parts of the 
Koran were written on stone. 

One afternoon we left Cairo for Matarich, 
only five or six miles away, and after arriving 
there secured donkeys to ride to the Obelisk which 
marks the spot where Heliopolis (City of the 
Sun) once stood. This celebrated Obelisk is 
thought to be the most ancient in Egypt. It is 
sixty-six feet high, about six feet square at the 
base, and tapers but slightly to the top. It is 
said to extend into the ground twenty-four feet, 
thus making its entire length ninety feet. The 
entire shaft is all in one piece. On our way back 
from the Obelisk we stopped to see the Virgin 
Mary's tree, where she took Jesus when she fled 
from Herod. Under its shade the Holy Family 
is said to have rested. The tree was quite a large 
one and nearly dead. 

On Saturday afternoon, April 22d, we left 
Cairo on a trip down the Nile to the dam. We 
arrived there in about an hour and a half. It 
was a fine trip. We left the steamer at the dam, 
but it went through the lock and on down the 
river. The gates at the lock were made at Ips- 
wich, England. There seemed to be five branches 
of the Nile at the dam, but the middle one was 
dry. 

The country on both sides of the river was 
very level and hundreds of water wheels were 

11 



162 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

furnishing water for irrigation. These wheels 
were usually turned by an ox, a bull or a cow 
hitched to a sweep; each animal was blinded by 
having a hood placed over its eyes, as it was sup- 
posed to work steadier and without fright in that 
condition. At some places where they were ir- 
rigating the land, they were making it very wet, 
in fact, they were flooding it entirely. 

We remained at the dam about two hours and 
then took the train at Barrage for Cairo. The 
railway trip was very pleasant. We saw several 
persons plowing on the way back; each one had 
a yoke of cattle. The yokes seemed to be six or 
seven feet long and perhaps longer, and the cattle 
would walk far apart. The plows were quite rude 
and looked somewhat like our large single shovel 
plows, only their plows had tongues in them. 
When the plowman reached the end of the field 
he seemed to turn back and forth and not round 
and round as we do. 

On Sunday morning, April 23d, we took a 
tram car for old Cairo for the purpose of visit- 
ing the Island of Rhoda where it is said that 
Moses was found in the bulrushes. That portion 
of the Nile over which we passed to reach the 
Island was very shallow, not more than five or 
six feet deep and perhaps from seventy-five to one 
hundred feet wide. We were taken over on a flat 
boat pushed along with long poles. There is an 
old palace on the Island. We saw the Nilometer 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 163 

on the Island, which is an instrument used for 
measuring the rise of water in the Nile during 
its periodical flood. A short distance from this 
place and down at the edge of the water where 
several bushes were growing when we visited the 
place, we were shown where it is said that Moses 
was found in the bulrushes. 

A well and a water wheel were near by, but 
the wheel was not running the morning we were 
there. 

After leaving the Island we visited the Coptic 
Church mentioned on a previous page, and then 
we passed a Jewish Synagogue said to be as old 
as the time of Moses, and were shown the place 
where Moses talked with Pharoah. We were also 
shown the old record that it is said God gave to 
Moses. We saw several noted tombs in different 
places at Cairo, but the most elaborate and costly 
were two tombs in a very fine building. Inside 
of the building surrounding and facing the ro- 
tunda, were four very beautiful arches. In the 
rotunda, nearly under one of these arches, was 
the tomb of the Caliph who was the father of 
the present Khedive, and under the arch opposite 
was the tomb of the Khedive's mother-in-law, and 
these were the only two tombs in the building. 
The windows in the walls opposite each arch were 
simply magnificent. I think I saw nothing 
grander in Jerusalem. In fact, all of us who 
visited Jerusalem were of the same opinion. 



164 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

We visited the Esbekieh Gardens, in which 
were some pretty flowers and shrubs and some 
peculiar trees. I remember one kind in particu- 
lar which had roots from their branches. The 
branches were perhaps not more than eight or 
ten feet from the ground. Some small twigs 
would grow down from the branches and when 
they reached the ground would grow fast. I 
think we saw some of the same kind of trees in 
Colombo on the Island of Ceylon. 

There is no Sunday in Cairo. Every kind of 
work is done on that day the same as any other 
day. 

The first day we were in Cairo we passed four 
funeral processions on the streets, and after that 
we saw three or four more while we were in the 
city. It was a strange sight. The coffin was 
borne on the shoulders of the pallbearers, and 
those following after it would sing or chant some- 
thing as they passed along. One day we saw the 
funeral of a pauper, so the guide said, but no one 
was following after his body singing. One day 
we saw a very fine hearse drawn by four horses, 
but no one seemed to be following it. No doubt 
a hearse is used in some cases. 

Early in the morning of April 24th we took 
a tram car for the Pyramids of Ghizeh and ar- 
rived there about nine a. m. Upon paying a small 
fee my brother and I were assisted to climb the 
Great Pyramid. We were taken up by different 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 165 

routes and each of us had four Arabs to assist 
us. One or two would have been sufficient as the 
pyramid was not hard to climb. The sides of the 
pyramid are rough and in most places one could 
easily step from one stone to another, but in a 
few places the stone above was so high that a 
little assistance was appreciated. The leader of 
my four assistants was known as Mark Twain. 
He got that name, so he said, because he took 
Mark Twain up one of the pyramids several years 
before. One of the assistants went along with us 
to carry the water, but no one needed water on a 
trip that required only an hour to finish. On the 
way up the pyramid these assistants will insist on 
telling the tourist's fortune, and on selling him a 
souvenir or two. The summit of the pyramid is 
about thirty feet square. We went up on one side 
of the pyramid and down on the opposite side. 
One can scarcely have any comprehension of the 
enormous size of these Pyramids even after see- 
ing them unless he makes some estimate of their 
dimensions. When we realized, however, that this 
large one covers more than twelve acres of ground 
and that it is four hundred and sixty feet high, 
we can have some idea of its enormous size and 
of the immense amount of work required to build 
it. 

There are two other large pyramids in the 
group and several small ones of not much in- 
terest. Some Egyptologists are of the opinion 



166 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

that the Great Pyramid was the first of the Egyp- 
tian monuments and that it was built at least 
two thousand years before the birth of Christ, 
and perhaps nearly three thousand years before 
that time. 

The Sphinx is only about one-quarter of a mile 
from the Great Pyramid. Its body is about one 
hundred and fifty feet in length, and it is hewn 
out of the solid rock, but its paws which are 
thrown out fifty feet in front are constructed out 
of masonry. It is about sixty feet high and has 
the body of a lion with a human head. Its fea- 
tures are now much disfigured, but they are said 
to have worn "an expression of the softest beauty 
and most winning grace." The Sphinx is of great 
antiquity. Recent Research seems to prove that 
it was in existence before the Great Pyramid was 
built. 

From the Sphinx two of our party returned 
to Cairo, but my brother and myself with our 
guide took a ride across the plains to the Tomb 
of the Bulls near the site of ancient Memphis. 
On this trip our guide rode a donkey as he was 
a small man, but my brother and I rode drome- 
daries. We left the Sphinx about ten-forty in the 
morning and arrived at the Tomb of the Bulls 
about one p. m. Our trip from the Sphinx to the 
Tomb was through a sandy plain the entire way. 
There was scarcely a bit of vegetation to be seen 
anywhere on the trip, and there were no settle- 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 167 

ments along the way except at some distance from 
our pathway to the left. The sand was very fine 
at some places, and at other places there would 
be a few stones or pebbles in it. 

On this trip we met a great many natives with 
a few donkeys and a large number of camels go- 
ing toward Cairo. The donkeys and camels had 
great packs on their backs, and in many cases the 
natives would walk and lead them along. They 
were usually in small groups, but we met several 
parties that had twenty-five or thirty camels with 
them. When we entered the Tomb of the Bulls 
we took candles with us but they made very little 
light and our visit there disappointed us a little 
This Tomb, it is said, had been the burial place 
of the sacred bulls from six hundred and fifty- 
three years before the birth of Christ until within 
fifty years of that event. 

After eating our lunch which we took with 
us from Cairo, we visited the Tombs under one 
of the pyramids near by and saw a casket cut 
out of solid granite. Its sides were about a foot 
thick and its cover, which was lying near by had 
been taken off and the body removed. We saw 
many ancient tombs in the walls around about us 
just as they were several thousand years ago. 
We next visited the catacombs under a pyramid 
near by that was being torn down. Our guide 
told us that tourists never or seldom visited this 
place because very few guides knew about it and 



168 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

that it was not intended for inspection. Such 
stories never appealed to me because as a rule I 
know they are untrue. 

It was a wonderful and rather unpleasant trip, 
as in many places the coffins were taken from the 
walls and their contents removed. At two or 
three places were great piles of human bones 
which we stopped to examine, and among which 
were many perfect skulls. 

I think that there are about one dozen pyra- 
mids in this group, which is not far from the 
Tomb of the Bulls and also near the site of an- 
cient Memphis. 

Soon after we left the pyramids we saw a 
cemetery at the foot of the hill and near by it 
was a beautiful grove of date palms, through 
which we rode on our way to the site of ancient 
Memphis. The country began to get richer and 
we soon saw many small patches of cucumbers, 
beans and other vegetables. Just before we 
reached the little village where ancient Memphis 
once stood, we saw on our left many shallow wells 
dug for the purpose of irrigating these small par- 
cels of land. A post about ten or twelve feet high 
is set not far from the well, at the top of which 
a long pole is fastened on a pivot at or near its 
center. This pole is rather heavy at one end and 
light at the other. The light end is just above 
the well, and the opposite end rests on the ground, 
or nearly so. A bucket is fastened to the end that 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 169 

is above the well far enough from the end to be 
in reach of a person to use for drawing water. 
The light end of the pole is pulled down as the 
bucket descends into the well and the heavy end 
rises, and when the bucket is filled with water the 
heavy end helps to raise it out of the well. Some- 
times a stone is fastened to the heavy end of the 
pole so as to make it still easier for the person to 
raise the bucket. More than one hundred of these 
arrangements for drawing water were in sight at 
one time. 

We went through the village that stands on 
the site of ancient Memphis, but did not stop for 
want of time. It looked like a dilapidated old 
town. 

Not far from this place we stopped to see the 
large statue of Rameses II. It was lying on the 
ground and was of immense size. I think that 
within the past year it has been removed from 
this place. 

On our way to the railway station, which is 
not far away, we passed through several pretty 
date palm groves, and the country is much more 
beautiful as we get nearer the station. We passed 
some very fine pieces of wheat, clover and alfalfa, 
and the irrigation was now done by means of 
water wheels instead of by posts, poles and buck- 
ets as described above. I think that that method 
is only used for irrigating small patches. 

Upon our arrival at the railway station, our 



170 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

guide sent the donkey and the dromedaries back 
to the Sphinx with the three boys who followed 
us the entire way for that purpose, and we re- 
turned to Cairo by railway. 

A great many tourists make the trip to the site 
of ancient Memphis, the Tomb of the Bulls and 
the group of pyramids near by from the station, 
thus saving a long ride from the Sphinx across 
the sandy plains. 

Although the ride across the plains was some- 
what tiresome, we enjoyed it very much. The 
day was very quiet and somewhat hazy and cloudy 
so that the sun shone but very little, and that 
helped to make the trip an ideal one. On a clear, 
windy day, the sun and sand would have nearly 
blinded us. 

As this was some sort of a holiday, when we 
arrived at Cairo about five o'clock in the after- 
noon, we saw a great many people at the railway 
station and on the streets near by. Every nation 
in the world seemed to be represented and the 
scene was very pretty. We took a tram car for 
the hotel and had a good rest. Nearly every one 
told us that the ride across the plains would make 
us so lame that we could not get about for a day 
or two, but the next morning after the ride we 
were all right. 

April 25th we left Cairo for Alexandria and 
passed through a first class farming country 
nearly all the way and saw immense crops of 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 171 

beans, wheat, clover and alfalfa. These crops 
were in small patches, many of them containing 
less than one acre. All of these crops were raised 
by irrigation. The water wheel was mostly used 
for getting the water for irrigating the land, but 
many of these wheels were run by two head of 
cattle worked side by side instead of one. 

We also saw many round hollow pipes about 
ten or twelve feet long and about a foot in diam- 
eter, with a screw placed on the inside for the 
purpose of raising the water from the Nile. One 
end of these pipes would be put into the water 
and the other end would reach upon the bank and 
a crank would be made fast to the screw inside, 
which when turned by a person, would raise the 
water up on the land, or in some places store it 
for future use. 

We arrived at Alexandria a little before noon, 
and after noon we took a drive around the city 
and visited the Gardens, which were attractive 
and nicely arranged. They contained some very 
pretty birds and a few animals, but the flowers 
and trees were the most interesting. We drove 
past the French and Italian cemeteries ; they were 
rather pretty. We passed Pompey's Pillar and 
stopped there a short time. Near by is an old 
Mohammedan cemetery, and as there is no en- 
closure round about it, it looks rather shabby, 
and as one writer has said, "It is a wilderness 
of stone." 



172 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

From Pompey's Pillar we went to the cata- 
combs which, in some respects, I think, is the most 
wonderful place I ever saw. It was lit up by 
electricity and we could get an excellent view of 
the compartments. We went down a winding 
stairs ninety steps and then descended some other 
steps, when the guide said we were seventy-five 
feet under ground. In this place we saw the 
statue of a king and a queen that ruled twenty- 
five hundred years ago, then a picture of the sun 
and moon, also pictures of snakes, bulls, etc. We 
saw graves in the walls out of which mummies 
were taken to place! in some museum. These 
graves were dug into the solid rock, and each one 
was so arranged that a slab of stone three or four 
inches thick could be set up in front of it and 
then the grave would be sealed up. Some of the 
tombs were still sealed. At one place were a few 
bones, of an animal, I think, as I saw what was 
called the skull of a horse. At this place there 
was a deep circular well with water in it. We 
went down to the water. We were informed that 
there were many tombs below that point. It is 
said that these catacombs were discovered only a 
few years ago. Two of our party, Mr. Stevens 
and his wife, left here for Italy. 

Before we left Port Said for Cairo my brother 
and I made application for berths on the Steamer 
Mantua, which was to leave that place on May 1st. 
While we were at Alexandria I received a letter 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 173 

from the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship 
Company that we could leave Port Said on that 
steamer by paying four pounds and eight shillings 
each extra for the trip to Marseilles and go first 
cabin, as the second cabin berths were all taken. 
We had second cabin tickets good for any of the 
boats of this line for Marseilles, and the extra 
cost represented the financial difference between 
first and second cabin. As we could not leave 
Port Said for some time unless we went first 
cabin, we made arrangements to go by that boat 
on May 1st. 

Alexandria is only a little more than one-half 
as large as Cairo. It is European in its makeup, 
while Cairo is really an Oriental city. The names 
of the streets in Alexandria are marked in French 
as well as in the native language, which makes it 
very interesting. We visited the stock exchange 
for a short time. They were selling cotton when 
we were there. 

On April 29th we took a drive to Romley, out 
on the Promenade. It was a fine drive and an 
excellent road. We passed the old fortifications, 
most of which had been torn down, and a fine 
garden occupied the site. There was an excellent 
vegetable and flower show at Romley and the 
Khedive came from Cairo to open it, but he had 
left the show before we arrived. We paid five 
piasters (about twenty-five cents) each to enter 
the show, but it was well worth the money. The 



174 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

vegetables were excellent and of many kinds, and 
the flowers were very beautiful. They gave 
prizes for the best vegetables and for the most 
beautiful flowers. They also had several fine 
tables set and nicely decorated with flowers. 
These tables were arranged to seat from four to 
six persons. Along the promenade to the show 
were some very fine residences of foreigners, rep- 
resenting several different nationalities. I was 
amused to hear our guide call this the "High Life 
Section of the City." 

On April 30th we left Alexandria for Port 
Said. A canal used for irrigating the land and 
a wagon road followed the railway for a long dis- 
tance. We saw a great many people walking 
along the roads; most of them were carrying 
baskets on their heads. At one place we passed 
half a dozen brick kilns, two of which they were 
burning. Every one seemed to be at work, al- 
though it was Sunday. 

We must have seen about one hundred people 
plowing and thousands were working in the fields. 
The plows used were the same as those seen in 
the other parts of Egypt. At one place we saw 
them threshing beans by driving cattle over them 
with some sort of a roller hitched to them. We 
saw some wheat that was harvested. It had been 
cut with sickles and piled in bunches about as 
large as one or two sheaves. We saw hundreds 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 175 

of acres of cotton, most of it from three to four 
inches high. 

Egypt looks very pretty at this time of the 
year. It is very productive along the Nile, but it 
seems to be a thousand years behind the times. I 
met a business man who was traveling in Egypt. 
He said, "It is an excellent farming country but 
no good for business." 

We stopped at Zagazig about noon, and soon 
after that we got into the bad lands along the 
Suez Canal. We reached Port Said about three 
p. m. and went to the Eastern Exchange Hotel. 
The harbor was full of steamers, and among them 
was a very large one of the Orient Line with an 
immense load of passengers. 

May the 1st I rose early and saw the sun rise 
over the city. In my notes on that day I say, 
"This is a lovely morning and the sun never 
shone brighter in any land." We went to the 
wharf to see whether the steamer Mantua had 
arrived. There we saw it, about seventy-five or 
one hundred feet from the shore. Then we went 
to the Peninsular and Oriental office and learned 
that we would have to make our own arrange- 
ments for getting on board. We went to Cook's 
office and learned that the steamer was quaran- 
tined and made arrangements with them to get 
our baggage from the hotel and get through the 
quarantine office and on board the steamer. As 



176 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

a rule, through passengers are permitted to leave 
the steamer while in port, but no one was per- 
mitted to leave this one during the day and 
neither could any prospective passenger go on 
board without a permit from the local authorities. 

A little before noon we were taken to the 
steamer in a small row boat and were soon on 
board, after one of Cook's agents showed an 
officer our permit. This steamer (the Mantua) 
arrived at Port Said early in the morning on May 
1st and was advertised to leave at four p. m. the 
same day. It left Bombay, India, on April 22d 
and was on its way to London. When it arrived 
at Port Said it was quarantined by the local 
health authorities because of a plague which was 
prevalent in India. It was one of the newest and 
best boats of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam 
Navigation Company's fleet. 

The purser of the steamer gave me the fol- 
lowing facts in regard to it: It is five hundred 
and forty feet long, sixty-one feet in breadth, and 
thirty feet deep. Its gross tonnage is ten thou- 
sand eight hundred and eighty-five, and its regis- 
tered horse power was fifteen thousand. It cost 
the compay more than ten thousand dollars to 
take it through the Suez Canal on this trip. Its 
crew consists of three hundred and fifty-six per- 
sons and it had on board when it left Bombay 
more than four hundred and fifty passengers, 
making a total of more than eight hundred souls. 



EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS 177 

Among its passengers were a Count and Countess, 
besides many other persons of note, including all 
grades from captain to Chief Justice of the High 
Court of Calcutta. The steamer was finished and 
furnished in first class style. Its woodwork was 
nearly all oak and its music and smoking rooms 
were large and cheerful. Its carpets, chairs, 
tables, writing desks and piano were equal to 
those in many first class hotels. It was, in fact, 
by all odds the best and largest steamer upon 
which it ever had been my good fortune to own a 
little space for even a short time. The company 
would not carry steerage or third-cabin passen- 
gers on its London and Australian, or on its Lon- 
don and Indian lines. It was quite exorbitant in 
its charges, but it looked well after the comfort 
of its patrons. The beds were first class, and the 
meals were all that could be desired. It even 
printed its list of passengers all upon one sheet 
without designating which were first and which 
were second cabin. That is very nice for over- 
sensitive people, but I would rather see the names 
printed separately so that we might know who 
is who. 



12 



CHAPTER XII 

THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES AND GENOA. 

ON May 4th we passed through the Strait 
of Messina, which separates the Island of 
Sicily from Italy and upon which is situ- 
ated the City of Messina, which was nearly de- 
stroyed by an earthquake a few years ago. That 
was a terrible calamity, but the city had some- 
what recovered from its effect and looked pretty 
as it nestled close to the shore with the green 
fields above it. The coast of Italy was equally 
as pretty, dotted as it was with many little vil- 
lages with green and pretty hills above them. We 
passed close to Stromboli, a small volcanic island 
of the Laparri Group. From the crater of its 
volcano great clouds of smoke came forth. The 
next day we passed Corsica, which is noted as 
being the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. We 
went south of that island, passing through the 
Strait of Bonifacio, which separates it from Sar- 
dinia. These two islands are rocky and somewhat 
picturesque, but in beauty they are not to be com- 
pared with either the coast of Italy or of Sicily. 
The morning of May 6th was bright and cheer- 
ful, and the sun shone out in splendor as it rose 

(178) 



THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES, ETC 179 

over the hills near the Church of Notre Dame de 
la Guarde at the entrance to the harbor of Mar- 
seilles. On both sides of the harbor are great 
white rocks with little vegetation upon them, but 
the beautiful sunshine presented such a fine scene 
and everything looked so pretty and bright that 
I could not resist the temptation to exclaim, 
"Beautiful France." An enthusiastic novelist 
with a smattering of French would write it, "La 
Belle France." All the way from Port Said it 
was predicted that when we arrived at Marseilles 
the passengers would be given a rigid examina- 
tion and that perhaps we would be held in quar- 
antine for several days because of the fact that 
two sick sailors were put off of the steamer at 
Aden, Arabia, suspected of having the plague, 
but strange to say, all of our passengers were in 
such excellent health that the local health officers 
must have had great faith in the report of the 
ship's doctor as there was no examination of the 
passengers and we were soon allowed to go 
ashore. 

About four hundred of the passengers left the 
steamer at this place, most of them going across 
France direct to London by way of the Strait of 
Dover. It is only a little more than eight hun- 
dred miles from Marseilles to London by way of 
Paris while it is more than two thousand miles 
to that city by steamer by way of Gibraltar. 

After finding a hotel and getting lunch, we 



180 NOTES ON "TRAVELS 

called at the American Consulate office, expecting 
to get letters from home, but we were much dis- 
appointed to learn that the Consul was not in his 
office and would not be in until Monday at ten 
a. m. as Saturday was a half holiday. When we 
called on Monday, we each of us got a great bun- 
dle of letters, some of which had followed us from 
Sydney, Australia. 

This is a city of more than half a million peo- 
ple, and a hustling city it is. It is a great seaport 
city, and many large steamers call here on their 
way to Asia and Australia, as well as upon their 
return to London. We visited several places of 
interest while here, among which was the cele- 
brated Church of Notre Dame de la Guarde, 
which was one of the pretty objects that first met 
our view upon entering the harbor. We attended 
divine services there at four p. m. on Sunday. 
We enjoyed it very much. The music was very 
fine and the audience seemed sincere and devo- 
tional. The priest had an excellent delivery, the 
building was packed to the doors and there were 
quite a few standing. It is a beautiful church, 
and the pretty view over the city and harbor 
from the hill upon which it stands would be en- 
joyed by the dullest intellect. 

The stock exchange, court house, Palais Long- 
champs, and other public buildings are interest- 
ing and well worth seeing. And, as a matter of 
Course, one cannot afford to miss the Zoological 



THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES, ETC 181 

Gardens. There are many fine monuments in the 
city. 

Another one of the things that attracted our 
attention in Marseilles was the great number of 
first class horses. I have no desire to tell big 
tales or to convey false impressions, but it is my 
deliberate opinion that I saw more good horses 
here than I ever saw in my life before at any one 
time. Great heavy carts with enormous loads 
would be drawn by from two to five first class 
horses hitched one ahead of the other in single 
file, and heavy truck wagons with large loads 
would be transported by large horses hitched 
three abreast. If the load was extremely large 
two or three horses would be hitched single file 
ahead of the three back ones. They would draw 
immense loads either on carts or on wagons, but 
the horses were almost all of them, sleek, pretty 
and well proportioned. I presume that they 
would weigh from fifteen hundred to two thou- 
sand pounds each, and some of them perhaps more 
than that. 

After spending a few days in Marseilles sight- 
seeing, we left there for a two weeks' tour of 
Italy, stopping first at Nice, France, for the pur- 
pose of visiting Monte Carlo. On the trip from 
Marseilles to Nice, we saw some beautiful olive 
groves and vineyards. After we left Saint Ra- 
phael the seacoast was rather pretty. Nice is an 
attractive little city on the Mediterranean. Many 



182 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

of the houses were white, which gave it a cheer- 
ful appearance. Some of the streets are lined 
on each side with long rows of beautiful shade 
trees. On May 11th we made a trip from here to 
Monte Carlo and returned by tram car. The trip 
was a very interesting one. 

Soon after leaving Nice we passed Queen Vic- 
toria Hospital with the British Flag flying from 
a staff at its main entrance. With a foreign flag 
floating proudly in a foreign country and two for- 
eigners, my brother and I, in a tram car, and 
everything peaceful and cheerful, it compelled me 
to ask myself the question, "Why should there be 
any occasion for a cruel war, especially between 
Christian nations?" As we went on and on, the 
hills and valleys became more beautiful at every 
turn and they were made more lovely by the ar- 
tistic skill of the Frenchmen, so that with the 
beautiful hills on the left and the majestic Medi- 
terranean on the right, and at our feet nothing 
more could be desired to make the scene simply 
beautiful. I think that the climax was reached 
when we arrived at Beaulieu, about half way 
from Nice to Monte Carlo. At that place, the hills 
seem still more lovely and even the rocky terraces 
were covered with the prettiest and brightest 
flowers of different colors. In some places even 
the walls of the terraces had holes along their 
sides from which grew shrubs, plants and vines 
full of beautiful flowers. What a lovely road this 



THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES, ETC 183 

is, leading to the greatest gambling place in the 
world ! 

We finally reached Monte Carlo, which is an 
artistic little village on the Mediterranean coast. 
It is a clean place full of hotels and boarding 
houses. The place seemed rather quiet when we 
were there as the rush of the season was over. 
Everything here is for amusement. The gend- 
armes and even the waiters wore neat and stylish 
uniforms. People of the highest rank visit the 
Casino. We did not enter the Casino where the 
gambling tables were, as no one was allowed to 
enter unless he wore a dress suit. We took a 
walk up the hill to Monaco, a short distance away, 
and saw the palace, the home of the Prince of 
Monaco, but soon returned to Monte Carlo and 
left for Nice. 

„ On May 12th we left Nice for Genoa by way 
of Vintimille, and in a little more than one-half 
hour we arrived at Monte Carlo. The scenery 
along the railway was very fine but perhaps it 
was not quite so pretty as it was along the tram 
car route. We arrived at Vintimille, on the 
boundary line between France and Italy, a little 
before noon. We had lunch at the station and 
passed the customs officer, but our valises were 
not opened. We passed several interesting towns 
and some pretty orange, lemon and palm groves 
before we arrived at Alassio. It is a busy sea- 
port town and is said to take its name from Alas- 



184 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

sia, daughter of the Emperor Otho, who escaped 
with her lover into the woods in the neighbor- 
hood. Off the coast near here is a small, green, 
rocky island. The route now passed through the 
delightful valley of Albenga. In thrs valley we 
saw water wheels similar to those that we saw in 
Egypt, but they were turned by a mule or a 
horse instead of by an ox or a cow. We also saw 
some well sweeps for raising water. This valley 
seems to be very rich and the people were en- 
gaged in raising all kinds of garden stuff. 

Soon after this we passed some fine orange, 
lemon and olive groves. Some of the olive groves 
were quite large and the trees looked thrifty. In 
a short time after this we saw some olive trees 
growing on the rocky hillside. Grape vines at 
some places would grow on artificial terraces and 
even through holes in the sides of the wall. At 
some places the overhanging cliffs were covered 
with fine aloes which grew spontaneously in the 
crevices of the rocks. We soon passed another 
small island called Isola dei Bergeggi, containing 
the ruins of a castle and abbey, and in a short 
time we stopped at Savona for six or eight min- 
utes. 

We passed through a small village where ship- 
building was carried on extensively. There were 
very many small row boats all around the station. 
It seemed as if most of these small boats were 



THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES, ETC 185 

intended to carry only six or eight persons. I 
well remember passing through the village of 
Cogoletto, the reputed birth place of Christopher 
Columbus. It is only a small place, about ten or 
fifteen miles from Genoa. The country beyond 
this place is considered by some tourists as being 
the most beautiful on the entire route. There are 
groves of different kinds of trees and flowering 
shrubs. 

We soon reached Genoa, which is about one 
hundred and twenty-five or thirty miles from 
Nice. 

The entire trip from Nice to Genoa is cer- 
tainly magnificent. The railway runs along the 
shore of the clean, clear, classic Mediterranean 
much of the way. The quaint villages and towns 
at the foot of the hills with their pretty flowers 
and background of green, add their share of 
beauty to the scene. And the hills, hills, hills, 
that approach so near to the coast that on this 
short trip they must be pierced nearly one hun- 
dred times have surely done their part to make 
this tour one long to be remembered, and espe- 
cially when one thinks of the fine vineyards and 
pretty orange, lemon, olive and palm tree groves 
that at so many places cling to their sides. 

Other seas may be just as beautiful, other 
villages and towns just as quaint, other hills just 
as majestic and other vineyards, orange, lemon, 



186 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

olive and palm tree groves just as enticing, but 
a combination of all these at any other place has 
not yet been found. 

Genoa is a seaport city with a population of 
about two hundred thousand. It has a fine harbor 
and vessels of the largest class can enter it. On 
account of its beautiful situation and the attrac- 
tions of its buildings and streets, it is called The 
Superb. We passed the University, went through 
the aristocratic portion of the city and saw sev- 
eral fine palaces belonging to the Genoese aristoc- 
racy. In the streets where the aristocracy resides, 
the palaces are protected by very heavy iron gates. 
We visited the Church of the Anunciation. It 
was originally built in the year 1228, but it was 
enlarged and rebuilt about five hundred years ago. 
It is much the finest church in the city. Its in- 
terior is simply magnificent. Its nave and aisles 
are supported by twelve columns of white marble 
inlaid with red. The arched ceilings and dome 
are richly gilded. The Cathedral of San Lorenzo 
is very old, dating from the 11th century, al- 
though the cupola and the choir were built about 
the close of the fourteenth century. It is well 
worth visiting because of the many curiosities it 
contains. It is said to contain the ashes of Saint 
John, the Baptist, which are preserved in two 
silver urns. We saw what is said to be the chain 
that was placed around the body of Saint John, 



THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES, ETC 187 

the Baptist. We were told that no woman could 
enter its chapel. 

After lunch our guide engaged a two-seated 
one-horse carriage for a drive around the city 
and out to the cemetery. The driver wore a silk 
hat with a rosette on one side of it, as was usual. 
We went up on the hill near by and had a view 
of the harbor, then we were driven to the ceme- 
tery. It is a very fine one and a visitor to Genoa 
cannot afford to miss it. It is considered the 
finest one in Italy, if not in the whole world. It 
lies at the northeast of the city in the valley of 
the Bisagno. Because of the fine works of art 
which it contains and its well arranged shrub- 
beries and beautiful flowers, one is inclined to 
think that he is in an artistic garden rather than 
in a city of the dead. As a part of the ceme- 
tery and within the enclosure, is a large building 
containing may tombs and the most magnificent 
statuary. We were shown through a crematory 
near by the cemetery; in a room in the building 
were receptacles for keeping the ashes of the de- 
parted. 

Education in Italy is compulsory and some of 
the pupils are taken to school in carriages. Some 
parents send their children to private kinder- 
gartens when they are only three years old. Our 
guide sent his little boy, who was only three and 
one-half years old, to one of these schools and 
paid about two dollars per month tuition. 



188 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

While in Genoa we saw the house in which it 
is said that Columbus lived with his father. The 
Italian patriot Mazzini was born in this city. 
We were shown the house in which he lived for 
some time. His tomb is in the beautiful ceme- 
tery in Genoa, where there is a fine monument to 
his name. 

Some of the new streets are very fine, but 
some of the old ones are not more than six or 
eight feet wide. Many of the shade trees along the 
streets were full of flowers. We went through 
the arcade. It is a long one and has many inter- 
esting shops in it. In fact, there are many very 
fine shops in the city. We visited several of the 
art stores. Many of the houses are plastered on 
the outside. We saw a large brick building, the 
walls of which were nearly completed, that was 
to be plastered outside. We saw several fine pic- 
tures painted in the most prominent places on 
the outside walls of some of the buildings. One 
picture in particular was so bright and pretty 
that I asked the guide how long ago it had been 
painted there, and he replied, "Fifteen or sixteen 
years ago." The tram car service was first class. 

On Sunday morning, May 14th, we left Genoa 
for Rome. The railway runs along the sea much 
of the way to Pisa, and we went through a great 
many tunnels before we arrived at that place. 
The scenery along the way was similar to that 
from Nice to Genoa, but not quite so attractive. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN, MARSEILLES, ETC 189 

About an hour before we reached Pisa, we passed 
some hills that were very white. We were told 
that they were composed of marble. Pisa is an 
enterprising little city. In passing through the 
town we saw the celebrated Leaning Tower as the 
train stopped not far from it for a short time. It 
is said to be one hundred and eighty feet high, 
and it is composed of eight stories. Notwith- 
standing its threatening inclination, it has stood 
for more than six hundred years and there seems 
to be no danger of its falling. 

At one-thirty p. m., just after we passed 
through Pisa, we sat down to lunch in the dining 
car, where we remained one hour, and for which 
we gave Cook's coupons. 

It might be of interest to the reader to know 
that this tour of Italy was provided for before we 
left Marseilles. We had Cook's coupons for rail- 
way fares, for hotel bills and for guides. The 
hotels and guides were selected for us so that the 
guides knew whom to look for and we knew where 
to go when we arrived in any of the cities visited. 
These coupons are very convenient when one can- 
not speak the language of the country visited. 

About an hour or so before we reached Rome 
we passed through what seemed to be a farming 
country. On the right it slopes gently towards 
the sea, which at some places was quite a ways 
off, and on the left the hills were at some dis- 
tance from the railway. We saw a great many 



190 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

cattle, most of which were of a mouse color. They 
were quite large, with long horns, and were some- 
what like the cattle we saw in Egypt. We saw 
quite a few sheep, some of which had just been 
sheared. We also saw a few horses grazing at 
several different places, but we saw no hogs. 
There were many stone fences in this section of 
the country and some post and flat rail fences 
made just as I have seen them in America. One 
of the prettiest sights that I saw in passing one 
of the little villages before we reached Rome was 
three little girls playing with a skipping rope. 
Two were swinging it and one was skipping over 
it. They looked neat and clean, and it reminded 
me of the interesting little girls in our own 
country. 



CHAPTER XIII 

ROME 

WE arrived at Rome just before dark, 
soon found a carriage and were driven 
to the hotel. Rome is a wonderful 
city, and to see all of its important places would 
require two or three weeks at least. As we re- 
mained in the city but a few days, we had only 
time to visit some of the most important places. 
Our first ride around the city was to get a gen- 
eral view of it. We drove through the best mod- 
ern streets as well as through the fashionable 
quarter of the old city. We saw the river and its 
bridge and passed St. Peter's Church. 

In the afternoon we inspected some of the 
ruined walls, saw the aqueduct and drove outside 
of the city walls along the Appian Way to the 
stone marked "IV K," which our guide said meant 
that we were four kilometers from the city walls. 
Very little of the original Appian Way is left, 
but a first class modern road takes its place. 
While out on the Appian Way about a mile from 
the city walls, we visited one of the most noted 
catacombs of Rome. As it was a dark, dreary 
place, we each carried a light in making the in- 

(191) 



192 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

spection. It was full of narrow passages, in fact, 
it contained a perfect maze of corridors. It is 
a very old burial place and was no doubt used for 
that purpose shortly after the beginning of the 
Christian era. It is said to contain the tombs of 
several of the Popes who were at the head of the 
Church during the third century, as well as those 
of some other noted persons. It also contains 
some old inscriptions which give the investigator 
some idea of its age. 

The Pantheon is a celebrated Temple of Rome: 
It was built by Agrippa, the son-in-law of Au- 
gustus, about twenty-seven years before the birth 
of Christ, and was formerly used as a pagan place 
of worship. It is circular in form with a portico 
and lofty columns. The walls of the Pantheon 
are more than twenty feet thick and the heavy 
bronze doors are about a foot thick. The in- 
terior is a perfect circle one hundred and forty- 
two feet in diameter, which is about equal to its 
height. There is a circular opening between 
twenty-five and thirty feet in diameter in the 
center of the dome, which furnishes light for the 
interior of the building. It is the oldest building 
in Rome that has come down to us in good condi- 
tion. The portico is decorated with sixteen col- 
umns, the bases and capitals of which are of white 
marble and the shafts of which are single blocks 
of black and white granite about five feet in diam- 
eter and about forty-five feet in height. It is 



ROME 193 

said that these Corinthian capitals are "the finest 
that have come down to us from ancient times." 
The Christians for many centuries have used the 
Pantheon as a place of worship, and it is now 
known as "Santa Maria Rotunda." It is a very- 
interesting place and well worth visiting. 

It is said that Rome contains more than three 
hundred and fifty churches, and during our short 
stay there we had an opportunity to visit only a 
few of its most important ones. Undoubtedly 
St. Peter's stands at the head of the list. It is 
not only considered as much the finest church in 
Rome, but by far the most magnificent church 
ever constructed. The church faces the east and 
it is approached through a grand piazza, the 
buildings along which are connected by a stately 
colonnade consisting of nearly three hundred col- 
umns. There is a beautiful fountain not far from 
the church, and a short distance from the foun- 
tain and directly in front of the church is one of 
the most remarkable monuments of antiquity pre- 
served in Rome. It is said to be one of two 
obelisks mentioned by Heroditus as having been 
erected by Phero. It was transported from Egypt 
to Rome on a vessel built for that purpose. The 
pillar was dedicated to Julius and Augustus 
Caesar and erected at a point not far from where 
it now stands, but in the year 1586 it was re- 
moved to its present site. Even the approach to 

13 



194 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the church makes one feel that the place he is 
about to enter is much more than an ordinary- 
one. 

In calling attention to what might be consid- 
ered as some architectural defects in the build- 
ing, a writer has said: "In spite of all the objec- 
tions that may be brought against it, St. Peter's 
is still the noblest structure ever reared to the 
worship of the Supreme Being ; and the man who 
has not seen it can hardly form a notion of what 
a 'temple made with hands' may be. So many 
beauties does it possess in detail, and so striking 
is it as a whole, that we may well overlook a few 
fancied or even real blemishes. The interior sur- 
passes the wildest dreams of the imagination; it 
is a spectacle that never tires; you may visit it 
every day, and ' always find something fresh to 
admire." 

The length of the church is more than six hun- 
dred feet within the walls ; its width is four hun- 
dred and forty-five feet and its height is four 
hundred and fifty-eight feet from the pavement 
to the cross. The chapel of the confession is un- 
der the great dome where it is said are the re- 
mains of St. Peter. Upon the four pillars and 
the great arches which sustain the dome, is a 
magnificent entablature, upon the frieze of which 
is the famous inscription in Latin: "Thou art 
Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church ; 



ROME 195 

and to thee will I give the keys of the Kingdom 
of Heaven." 

There is a large bronze chair in the church 
called St. Peter's and it encloses a wooden chair 
said to have been used by St. Peter and his suc- 
cessors. Among the many bronze statues here 
I well remember a very fine one of St. Peter. The 
tombs of several of the Popes as well as those of 
a few other persons are in this Church. Some 
of these tombs have fine statuary near them, 
among which is the tomb of Alexander the Sev- 
enth, on which the Pope is represented as kneel- 
ing surrounded by figures representing Justice, 
Prudence, Charity and Truth. This church also 
contains many fine Mosaic copies of celebrated 
paintings, among which is the Mosaic copy of 
Guido's Crucifixion of St. Peter, as well as a copy 
of Eaphael's Transfiguration. There are several 
other interesting chapels in the church. There 
are two small chapels closed with bronze doors. 
In one are kept the relics of St. Peter, and in the 
other a marble column said to be the one against 
which our Savior leaned when he disputed with 
the doctors in the Temple at Jerusalem. 

To describe all the chapels, tombs, statuary 
and Mosaics in this church would make these 
notes too long, so we will now visit St. Paul's 
Church. 

It is built over the supposed tomb of St. Paul. 



196 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

The old church which occupied this site and which 
was destroyed by fire in 1823, was said to be one 
of the grandest churches in Rome. The present 
building is very large, being three hundred and 
ninety-six feet long inside, and two hundred and 
twenty-two feet wide. It is quite plain. It con- 
tains four rows of granite columns to support the 
interior, which divide it into five naves or aisles, 
and this gives it a fine appearance. 

This church contains Mosaic pictures of all 
the Popes from St. Peter to the present. Each 
picture is about five feet in diameter. The church 
contains a very fine figure of St. Peter with the 
keys, as well as one of St. Paul with a sword, 
and I well remember a very fine picture of St. 
Paul's conversion. The bones of St. Paul, except 
the head, are said to be in this church. It also 
contains a great many statues and pictures, as 
well as some ancient Mosaics. 

Another one of the noted churches is St. John 
Lateran. It is said to have been originally built 
by Constantine in the precincts of his own palace. 
It was destroyed by fire in the fourteenth century, 
and a new church was built on the site of the old 
one. The interior of the church is divided into a 
nave and four aisles by rows of pilasters. At the 
altar of the Holy Sacrament are two bronze col- 
umns supposed to be the same that were made 
out of the rostra of the galley taken at the Battle 
of Actium, The church contains two very fine 



ROME 197 

chapels. One of them is nicely decorated with 
marble and gilded, and the other one, which con- 
tains the tomb of Clement the Twelfth, is exceed- 
ingly rich, its walls being copiously inlaid with 
precious stones. The high altar is supported by 
several columns of granite and marble. It is said 
to have been erected to receive the heads of the 
martyrs, St. Peter and St. Paul. Within the altar 
is a wooden table which it is said St. Peter used 
in his official capacity. In this church is also the 
table upon which the Last Supper is supposed to 
have been prepared. The table is of cedar wood. 
Under a portico near this church is the Scala 
Santa, known as the Holy Staircase. It is a 
marble staircase of twenty-eight steps, which 
tradition states belonged to Pontius Pilate's house 
in Jerusalem and to be the one by which Jesus 
ascended and descended from the judgment seat. 
No foot is ever allowed to touch it, and every one 
ascending it must do so on his knees repeating a 
prayer. People of all ranks ascend it in this 
manner, but another stairway parallel to this one 
makes provision for descending in the regular 
manner. At the top of this stairway is a very 
pretty Gothic chapel called Sancta Sanctorum, 
formerly the private chapel of the Pope. The 
chapel contains a Mosaic of Christ of the ninth 
century, and the image of our Savior kept in a 
silver shrine. 

On the top of Janiculan Hill rises a very fine 



198 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

equestrian bronze statue of Garibaldi. The ped- 
estal supporting the statue is formed of granite 
blocks and is surrounded by four bronze groups ; 
the one on the front represents the defense of 
Rome, 1849; the one on the right, America, with 
allegories of commerce and agriculture; the one 
on the back, the Battle of Calatafimi ; and the one 
on the left, Europe, with allegories of history. 

The finest monument in Rome, and one of the 
finest in the world, is an immense monument to 
Victor Emanuel the Second, begun in 1888 and 
finished in 1911, which was the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the Kingdom of Italy. It stands in the 
new Venice Square, said to be one of the finest 
in the city. 

Rome contains quite a number of fine foun- 
tains, but no doubt the Fountain Fermini, or the 
Fountain of the Naiads, is one of the most beau- 
tiful. It gets its modern name from the very 
beautiful naiads in bronze which decorate it since 
1901. 

On the Pincian Hill, among other fine sculp- 
ture is the fountain of Moses, situated in an open 
place surrounded by stately trees. It gets its 
name because of the statue of Moses which rises 
in the center. The Fountain of the Rivers is an- 
other very interesting one. It is in the Piazza 
Navona. In fact, there are three famous foun- 
tains in this place. One is in the center of the 
Piazza and constructed by Innocent Tenth, the 



ROME 199 

other two at the extremities were constructed by 
order of Gregory Thirteenth. In the center rises 
the obelisk which stood in the Circus of Romulus. 
The four statues placed around' the central foun- 
tain represent the Ganges, the Nile, the Danube 
and the Rio de la Plata, and this explains why 
it is called the Fountain of the Rivers. 

On the right bank of the river, opposite one 
of the fine bridges, is a large building that is said 
to have been ruined many times in the course of 
centuries. It was first called Mole Adriana in 
honor of the Emperor Adrian, who built it to 
serve as an Imperial mausoleum. In the year 
1608 Boniface IV built a chapel on the top of 
this building and dedicated it to the Archangel 
Michael to solemnize the legendary appearance to 
Gregory I of the angel who delivered the city 
from the terrible plague. It was a fortress at 
one time and served both to defend the city and 
as a prison. This colossal building is now used 
as a very important museum of arms. 

This building is made quite conspicuous by 
the figure of an angel on the top of the chapel, 
which rises above the main part of the building. 

While in Rome we visited the Vatican Library. 
It contains many thousand manuscripts, and the 
number of printed volumes that it contains has 
been estimated at more than two hundred thou- 
sand. The library contains a great number of 
ancient rarities. It is one of the most interesting 



200 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

places in Rome. The day that we visited the 
library about fifty carriages were there at one 
time. The Pope resides in the Vatican but no 
one can see him unless arrangements have been 
previously made. 

The ruins of the Roman Forum are at the 
foot of Palatine Hill. All that is left of this once 
celebrated place is nothing but a mass of rub- 
bish, except a few columns and some slight por- 
tions of the once noted buildings. The Senators 
and other officers of the government met here, 
and some important events took place within its 
walls when Rome was at the height of her glory. 
It was first destroyed during the latter part of 
the eleventh century, nearly one thousand years 
ago, but even now as one stands beside its ruins 
he is filled with awe and enthusiasm as he recalls 
some of the many historic scenes that took place 
within its walls. 

The Flavian Amphitheater, known as the 
Coliseum, is one of the most wonderful places in 
Rome. It was built by slaves in the first century 
of the Christian era and required eight years for 
its construction. It was finished A. D. 80. It 
was a gigantic structure somewhat circular in 
shape. Various statements have been made as to 
its dimensions, but it is generally believed to have 
been at least five hundred and eighty-four feet 
long and four hundred and sixty-eight feet wide, 



ROME 201 

and the best authorities place its height at at 
least" one hundred and seventy-five feet. Some 
writer has said it was so high that it almost 
reached the skies. The arena was very large, and 
it was surrounded by a wall of sufficient height 
to prevent the wild beasts from leaping over it. 
The usual exhibitions of the amphitheater which 
took place in the arena were combats of wild 
beasts with gladiators, or of gladiators with each 
other, and sometimes malefactors, as well as un- 
offending Christians, were exposed to the wild 
beasts. The last gladitorial combat took place at 
the beginning of the fifth century, but combats 
of wild beasts with human beings were carried on 
as late as the sixth century. 

Although more than one-half of the original 
building has disappeared, it is still a wonderful 
structure, and upon one side, which is about its 
original height, can be seen the five tiers which 
were occupied by the spectators who were pres- 
ent when the combats took place in the arena. It 
is said that seventy-five or eighty thousand spec- 
tators could see the contests at one time. We saw 
some of the stone sairways for entering and leav- 
ing the building. The building could be cleared 
at once as these stairways are very wide. We 
also saw the tunnel through which they brought 
the wild beasts into the arena. 

On May 17th we visited the National Exposi- 



202 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

tion at Rome, but few of the buildings were in 
order when we were there and we were much dis- 
appointed. 

There was quite an excitement in the city the 
next evening after we arrived, when the Prince 
of Russia and the king of Italy went to the rail- 
way station together with a few other officials. 
Our guide knew of the arrangement and planned 
for us to be at the station when the party arrived. 
Hundreds of people were at the station to greet 
them. It was a pleasing incident. 

Rome is a wonderful city and we saw many 
interesting places while we were there, but as 
these notes are intended to give a short sketch of 
a long trip, the writer must hasten on. 



CHAPTER XIV 

NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 

ABOUT one p. m. on May 18th we left the 
hotel in an automobile bus for the ter- 
minal railway station, and were soon on 
our way to Naples. The trip to Naples was very 
interesting, made so by the beautiful hills and 
fine valleys. These valleys, for the most part, 
were covered with vineyards, olive groves and 
grass and grain fields. At many places men and 
women were working in the fields with large 
heavy hoes, and at one place we saw an ox team 
plowing a sod field from which the grass had just 
been cut. The crops of all kinds were first class. 
There were some large fields of -grain and hay, 
as well as some quite small patches. 

In the last forty or fifty miles before we 
reached Naples, we passed more than one dozen 
large cart loads of hay, each one of which was 
drawn by a yoke of oxen. We arrived at Naples 
shortly after dark and went to the hotel selected 
for us by Cook's agency, and in the morning when 
we went down to the office our guide was there 
waiting for us. We could not get breakfast until 
nearly eight o'clock, after which we took a cab 

(203) 



204 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

for the electric station and got there just in time 
for the eight-thirty train for Pompeii, where we 
arrived in about an hour. 

Pompeii is one of the two ruined cities near 
Mount Vesuvius, whose destruction occurred in 
A. D. 79. Those of my readers who have read 
Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii, will have 
some idea of this wonderful city that has lain in 
ruins for nearly nineteen centuries. It is said 
that Pompeii and Herculaneumwere the pleasure 
resorts of the Roman aristocracy. I have no de- 
sire to give an account of their history, either 
past or present, except to say that for nearly 
seventeen centuries Pompeii lay hidden from 
view and all traces of its location were lost. Most 
of the excavations have been made in the past 
fifty years, but it is supposed that much of the 
city lies buried from view even at the present 
time. 

While at Pompeii we saw workmen still en- 
gaged in uncovering portions of the ruins. As we 
walked the streets of this ruined city with its 
stone pavements, it was strange to see the deep 
worn tracks of the chariot wheels in the hard 
pavement just as they were immediately before 
the terrible earthquake shock and volcanic erup- 
tion that took place in the latter part of A. D. 79. 
We walked among these wonderful ruins for 
about two hours and were shown the most noted 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 205 

residences, many of which contained specimens 
of statuary, of paintings, and of Mosaic work of 
the finest kind. We saw the wine cellars in which 
were large earthen jugs, or casks, some of which 
would hold at least fifty or sixty gallons. When 
these casks were in use, they were sunk into the 
ground in order to keep the wine cool. 

We visited the Forum, the Baths, the Temple 
of Hercules, the Amphitheater, and many other 
interesting ruins, perhaps one hundred or more. 

We finally went upon a modern balcony in or- 
der to get a view of the ruined city, and there it 
lay before us just as if one of our beautiful cities 
were sacked or destroyed and all of the rubbish 
were cleaned away and we could see the clean 
pavement, the ruined walls and the statuary that 
might be replaced. We had a fine view from this 
balcony. 

From Pompeii we went to Mount Vesuvius, 
making the trip by tram car, carriage, cog wheel 
car, and cable car, but as it began to rain a little 
just before we reached the top of the mountain, 
the fog and smoke made the trip a failure. We 
went within six or seven hundred feet of the 
crater and would have gone the whole distance, 
but our guide said that it would be all for noth- 
ing, so my brother and I remained at the car and 
the rest of the party went up to the crater, but 
upon their return every one of them said the trip 



206 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

was an absolute failure as they saw nothing on 
account of the rain which made the crater very 
dark. 

While at Pompeii we met a company of 
twenty-four Australian Senior Cadets from New 
South Wales. They appeared to be from sixteen 
to twenty years of age. They were an interesting 
company of young men and were enjoying the 
sights immensely. 

On our way from Pompeii to Mount Vesuvius, 
we met several very interesting tourists, among 
whom were a banker and his wife from Johannes- 
burg, South Africa. She was a native of that 
country. He was a Scotchman by birth but had 
lived in Africa for twenty years. They were very 
social and gave us some valuable information in 
regard to South Africa. We met them again the 
next day in Naples. 

Naples was founded several centuries before 
the Christian era. It is the largest city in Italy 
and one of the most densely populated cities in 
the world. Its area is not extensive, although it 
has more than a half million inhabitants. It con- 
tains some very fine public buildings and a most 
beautiful arcade full of the finest kind of shops, 
but we were most interested in the excellent 
museum and the fine art galleries. The museum 
is no doubt one of the finest and most interest- 
ing in the world. It contains many ancient works 
in marble, ancient coins and medals, Egyptian 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 207 

antiquities and many other ancient curiosities, 
some of which were from Rome, but in addition 
to all this it contains without doubt the finest col- 
lection of curiosities from the ruins of Pompeii 
and Herculaneum to be found anywhere in the 
world. The curiosities from these two ruined 
cities include much statuary, many Mosaic pic- 
tures, coins and jewelry. The jewelry, consisting 
of rings, bracelets, chains and trinkets in gold 
and silver, is proof of the great ability of the 
ancients in this art. One is surprised to see the 
samples of wheat, fruits and other perishable 
articles which were found in these ruins and 
which are preserved in the museum here. 

At least thirty painters were in the museum 
and art gallery when we were there, making 
copies of some of the fine paintings, and some of 
them were painting portraits of the fine statuary. 

Most of all the heavy hauling in the city was 
done by heavy carts generally drawn by a yoke 
of cattle. 

In May 21st we left Naples for Florence by 
way of Rome. We changed cars at Rome and 
continued our journey to Florence, where we ar- 
rived a little after nine p. m. The train from 
Naples to Rome, as well as the one from Rome to 
Florence, was provided with a first class dining 
car. We saw some fine fields of wheat, rye and 
grass on the way to Florence, but I suppose that 
the great industry in this section of Italy is wine- 



208 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

making, as we passed thousands of acres of vine- 
yards. We also saw many trees planted in 
squares about one rod apart and others in double 
rows about two rods apart one way, and still 
others in squares about two rods apart. These 
trees had almost the entire top cut off about eight 
or ten feet above the ground. They seemed as if 
they were planted for the grape vines to cling to, 
but an Englishman who had traveled much in 
Italy said that they were mulberry trees and that 
they were planted for the berries. 

Florence is a very pretty city and by many 
it is considered the most beautiful city in Italy. 
It is situated on both sides of the River Arno, 
which is crossed by several fine bridges. The 
cathedral is the most noted building in the city. 
It was begun at the close of the thirteenth cent- 
ury and completed during the fifteenth. It is a 
very large church and has one of the finest fronts 
that I ever saw, but its interior is rather plain 
although it contains some fine statuary and some 
beautiful Mosaics. 

Opposite the cathedral and facing it, is St. 
John's Baptistery, in the front of which are three 
very fine doors. The finest door of the three was 
placed in position about the middle of the fifteenth 
century, and it has in squares or separate panels 
in its front ten different figures from the Bible. 
First, the Creation of Man; second, Adam and 
Eve driven out of Paradise ; third, Noah after the 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 209 

Flood; fourth, Abraham's Sacrifice on the Moun- 
tain; fifth, Esau Selling his Birthright; sixth, 
Joseph and his Brothers ; seventh, Moses on 
Mount Sinai; eighth, Joshua before Jericho; 
ninth, David Cutting Off Goliath's Head; tenth, 
the Queen of Sheba Before Solomon. 

The supports of the door are ornamented with 
beautiful statues of prophets and sibyls and some 
other decorations. The artistic beauty of this 
door is such that Michael Angelo said it was 
worthy of Paradise. 

We visited several other fine churches, among 
which was Santa Croce. This church is some- 
times called the Westminster Abbey of Florence, 
because it is the burial pice of many eminent men, 
among which are the tombs of Michael Angelo, 
Galileo, and Machiavelli. The church also con- 
tains much fine sculpture. 

The city contains several fine palaces and 
many handsome private dwellings. It also con- 
tains many pretty squares and drives and walks. 
The museum and fine art galleries are well worth 
visiting. We saw a statue of Venus said to have 
been made two hundred years before Christ. The 
fact is, that Florence is noted because of its fine 
statuary and beautiful Mosaics. While in the city 
we visited one of the leading factories at which 
they were making Mosaic pictures. We saw the 
rough stone or marble out of which the beauti- 

14 



210 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ful Mosaics were made, and the foreman, who 
was very courteous, showed us how the different 
colored pieces were selected and placed together 
so as to produce a beautiful work of art. 

We learned that the lily is the emblem of Flor- 
ence. Florence was the capital of the kingdom 
from 1865 to 1871, the seat of government being 
transferred there from Turin. The city has pro- 
duced many illustrious men, among whom were 
Dante, Petrarch, Lorenzi de' Medici, Galileo, 
Michael Angelo, Cellini and Machiavelli. 

As the hotel at which we were stopping was 
near the Cathedral, we visited it and admired it 
and the beautiful door in St. John's Baptistery 
several times before we left the city. 

While in Florence we met a gentleman from 
Massachusetts whom we had met about a week 
before in Rome. He was well pleased with his 
visit there and expected to go to Venice and then 
make a tour of Switzerland. He was traveling 
without a guide, and said that he could not speak 
one word of any language but English. 

On Tuesday afternoon, May 23rd, we left 
Florence for Venice. While at the station we met 
a young German who was going to Venice also. 
He was a commercial man with headquarters at 
Palermo, Sicily, and had been in Italy for two 
years. He had spent eighteen months in London, 
England, and spoke English very well. He could 
also speak Italian with ease. He proposed that 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 211 

he, my brother and myself should ride in the 
same compartment in the car, which we did, and 
as we three were the only occupants of that com- 
partment, we had an excellent visit together. He 
wished to know how the United States felt to- 
ward Germany, and we discussed the govern- 
mental policy of the two countries. Then he 
gave me an excellent outline of the Italian char- 
acter, as well as some first class information in 
regard to Sicily and its noted volcano. He said 
that Florence was the cleanest and finest city in 
Italy. He said that the Italian in the extreme 
southern part of Italy gets only from twenty-five 
to thirty centesimi (four or five cents) per day. 
They do not need much clothing and they get 
along on that wages. 

We talked religion and I made some rather 
radical assertions, but he agreed with me. His 
father was a Catholic and his mother was a Prot- 
estant, but his father allowed the children to be 
brought up as Protestants. We were both of the 
opinion that without Christianity a country 
would retrograde. 

The trip through the Apennine Mountains was 
very fine. The mountains were clothed in green 
and there were many cascades and waterfalls 
along the way. At seven p. m. we went to the 
dining car and had a first class meal. Soon after 
this we crossed the River Po, the largest river 
of Italy. We arrived at Venice about nine-forty- 



212 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

five p. m. and took a gondola for the hotel. The 
gondola is a rather large row boat in which, as 
a rule, the oarsman stands and rows with one oar. 
We were taken in this boat for one-half hour 
through the streets of this city, and finally ar- 
rived at the hotel and stepped out of the boat into 
the hotel office. This is a wonderful city, so won- 
derful that an intelligent English gentleman said 
of it that it was the only city that he ever saw 
that did not disappoint him at first sight. I 
cannot say that, but I can say that no other city 
that I ever saw produced such a pleasing and 
wonderful impression upon my mind as this pecu-. 
liar city on the sea. There was not a tram car, 
wagon, horse, mule, cow or donkey in this city 
of about one hundred and seventy thousand souls. 

You are not disturbed in your sleep by the 
clatter of cab men or the noise of carriage wheels. 
The freight is carried about the city from place 
to place by boat. The rich have private gondolas 
to go shopping or visiting with instead of a coach 
and horses. 

One afternoon we took a gondola trip around 
the city, and just as we started we saw a funeral 
procession on boats with a great display of beau- 
tiful flowers. It was a rich banker's funeral, so 
our guide told us. 

On this trip we passed many fine residences, 
and went through many small canals as well as 
through the whole length of the Grand Canal, 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 213 

We saw where the English poet, Robert Brown- 
ing, died. We also saw where Don Carlos, the 
pretended King of Spain, lived for twenty-five 
years after his banishment from that country and 
where he died less than one year before we passed 
the place. It was a plain house on the Grand 
Canal. 

The canals, which are the streets of the city, 
are from fifteen to about fifty feet in width, ex- 
cept the Grand Canal, which is from ninety to 
more than one hundred feet wide, giving it the 
appearance of a small river. These water streets 
of the city are spanned by many bridges said to 
number more than three hundred. In fact, on 
our gondola trip we passed under about thirty 
bridges in less than two hours. Most of these 
bridges are not very far above the water, which 
places them about on a level with the entrance 
to the buildings. 

On our gondola trip we saw in the distance 
the Island of St. Michael, upon which is the Ceme- 
tery of Venice. We passed several fine churches 
and stopped at the Jesuit Church, around the 
altar of Avhich were figures of four archangels 
and four very fine twisted columns. 

Of the many bridges under which we passed 
on our trip, the two most noted were the Bridge 
of Sighs, which connects the Ducal Palace with 
the prison, and the Rialto, a stone bridge over the 
Grand Canal. The latter was built near the close 



214 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

of the sixteenth century and has only a single 
span of ninety feet, and it is about twenty-five 
feet above the water so that small steamers and 
freight boats can pass under it. We walked over 
this bridge and had a fine view of the city. 

There are also two iron bridges over the 
Grand Canal. They are also built high enough 
for steamers to pass under them. This Grand 
Canal is the leading thoroughfare of the city and 
it is a very busy place. 

We were very fortunate because of the excel- 
lent location of our hotel at Venice. It was with- 
in less than one block of the entrance to the cele- 
brated Piazza or Square of St. Mark's. This 
Piazza presents a very fine appearance, especially 
in the evening. It is nearly six hundred feet long 
and from about two hundred to two hundred and 
fifty feet in width. On one side of this square 
stands the church of St. Mark. It is a very pecu- 
liar church, the roof of which is covered with 
small cupolas. Some one has said that it is very 
difficult to speak of its worth and of its beauties. 
It has many fine Mosaics on its walls, and it is 
supported by five hundred columns of the rarest 
marble. Above the doorway are four celebrated 
bronze horses, brought from Constantinople by 
the Doge Dandolo in 1204. This church was re- 
built toward the end of the eleventh century in 
place of one that was destroyed by fire. Addi- 
tions were made to it in the fourteenth and sev- 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 215 

enteenth centuries. It was erected to the honor 
of St. Mark, whose bones were brought from the 
east and deposited within it. 

The Palace of the Doges is another very in- 
teresting place. It has been destroyed several 
times but has always been rebuilt with greater 
magnificence. Two sides of this palace rest upon 
a double row of columns, one above the other, 
which gives it a very fine appearance. This pal- 
ace contains a number of beautiful halls. The 
walls and ceilings of some of these halls are really 
magnificent, having been painted by distinguished 
masters. The main stairway, called the Stairway 
of the Giants, is very fine and its ceiling is simply 
grand. 

The Bridge of Sighs connects the palace with 
the public prisons on the opposite side of a nar- 
row canal. The bridge was so called because the 
prisoners were conducted across it to hear their 
sentence. 

When we first arrived in the city we visited 
the art gallery where we saw a very large picture 
representing the wedding feast at the house of 
Levi. Another one represented Christ at the 
marriage feast where he performed his first mir- 
acle, another the Resurrection of Lazarus, and 
still another representing the death of Rachel. 

About the close of the fifteenth century Ven- 
ice was a rich and powerful city and had an ex- 
tensive commerce. Since then its power began to 



216 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

decline and it lost its commercial standing. She 
long since lost her political importance and is 
now one of the interesting cities of the kingdom 
of Italy. 

On Thursday morning, May 25th, the gondola 
came up to the hotel door to take us to the rail- 
way station. In going to the station we went 
through several small canals, and we were on and 
off of the Grand Canal several different times. 
At last we passed under the iron bridge over the 
Grand Canal near the station, where we left the 
gondola. The railway enters Venice over a bridge 
a little more than two miles in length. We left 
Venice for Genoa by way of Milan about nine 
o'clock in the morning. 

There is a wide lagoon on each side of the 
railway bridge and the sight was very pretty in 
looking back toward the city. The train stopped 
at Vicenza for a few minutes and then went on 
to Verona, where it arrived about noon. A din- 
ing car was attached to the train at this place, 
and soon after leaving the city we had lunch. 
We arrived at Milan about three p. m. and 
changed cars for Genoa, going by way of Voghera. 

Milan is one of the largest cities in Italy, but 
we could not stop there for want of time. The 
scenery along the way was fine as we got up into 
the Apennine Mountains. The train entered the 
big tunnel, which is about two miles in length, a 



NAPLES, FLORENCE AND VENICE 217 

little after six p. m. and for some reason it re- 
quired a trifle more than twelve minutes to pass 
through it. We arrived at Genoa about seven 
p. m. 

On our way from Venice we saw them 
hauling hay at many places. Men, women and 
children were working at it. Much of the grass 
had been mown and raked by hand. Perhaps the 
large fields were mown with a mower and raked 
with a horse rake. On this trip we also saw many 
trees cut down to the height of eight or ten feet 
with all the limbs cut off like those mentioned 
heretofore and as a rule grape vines were sup- 
ported by these trunks. Some of the vineyards 
looked very pretty. 

On Friday morning, May 26th, we left Genoa 
for Marseilles. The car in which we rode was 
built on the American plan, with the corridor in 
the center, with the seats on each side, with high 
reversible backs. One-third of the car was cut 
off as a smoker, and the water closet was at the 
partition between the smoking and non-smoking 
compartments. This car was called second class, 
but I have been in many first class cars that were 
no better. I went through the train to see about 
lunch, but learned that they had discontinued that 
service, although we had tickets for lunch on this 
train. In looking through this train I learned 
that there were forty-one third class, twenty-one 



218 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

second class and only seven first-class passengers 
on the train. I mean there were only seven pas- 
sengers riding first class. 

We arrived at Ventimiglia about two-forty p. 
m. and changed cars for Marseilles. Our bag- 
gage was examined by the customs officer and 
was opened for the first time since we arrived in 
Europe. We arrived at Nice about four p. m., 
stopped there about twenty minutes, and then 
left for Marseilles where we arrived at eleven p. 
m. The trip from Genoa to Marseilles was over 
the same route we traveled about two weeks 
before. 



CHAPTER XV 

FRANCE AND GERMANY. 

ON May 27th we went to Cook's and bought 
tickets for London by way of Paris good 
for thirty days, then went to the United 
States Consulate office, got several letters, all of 
which had been forwarded to us from Australia. 
On May 28th we sent our heavy baggage direct 
to Charing Cross, London, where they were to 
keep it until our arrival, and after getting a re- 
ceipt for it we left Marseilles for Paris at eight- 
fifty-five a. m. The train was a first class one 
and carried only first and second class passengers. 
The cars were as good as the best on most Amer- 
ican railways, but the corridor ran along one 
side of the car instead of through the center, and 
each car was divided into compartments, each of 
which would accommodate eight passengers, one- 
half of whom would be compelled to ride back- 
wards when all the space was occupied. Many 
travelers prefer to ride in that manner, even 
when there is plenty of room. 

There were pictures and a looking glass in 
each compartment and the seats were well cush- 
ioned. Soon after we left Marseilles the railway 

(219) 



220 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ran for many miles through the valley of the 
Rhone, along which were many pretty olive 
groves and fine vineyards. These, together with 
the small patches of clover, wheat, rye and garden 
truck, made the country look perfectly lovely. All 
vegetation was fresh and green and the sun never 
shone brighter, even in sunny France than it did 
on that day. I presume that there is no place in 
the agricultural world more artistic and beauti- 
ful than that portion of the trip from Lyons to 
Dijon. In fact, so neatly were the farms kept 
that all afternoon we seemed to be passing one 
beautiful garden after another with only now and 
then a slovenly kept place, which showed the 
contrast between the artistic and energetic 
farmer and the sluggard. There were but few of 
these slovenly kept places, and as I noticed one 
near a village I said to my brother, "That fellow 
lives too near town." 

The train stopped only seven times on its way 
to Paris. It was one of the finest and most com- 
fortable railway trips that I ever enjoyed. The 
train was always on time. We arrived in Paris 
at ten p. m. and soon took an automobile bus for 
the hotel. It might be of interest to the reader 
to say that on this trip we had Cook's railway 
tickets but that we selected our own hotel. 

Before we arrived at Paris we saw a hotel ad- 
vertised as first class, at which English was 
spoken. We stayed there all night, but it was a 



FRANCE AND GERMANY 221 

rather shabby place and no one could speak Eng- 
lish except one attendant who had a smattering 
of it. The next morning after some inquiry we 
selected the Hotel de Londres and de Milan, 8 
Rue St Hyacinthe, which proved to be a first class 
one. 

My brother and I called on the American Con- 
sul to get letters from home, but he said 'without 
looking that there were none. I insisted that 
there ought to be some letters for us and then he 
sent us into another room to a clerk. The clerk 
said he thought there were letters here, and after 
looking he gave us several. He was very pleasant. 
We spent our first day in Paris resting and read- 
ing our letters. 

On May 30th we went to Cook's office near 
the Opera House and made arrangements for a 
trip to Cologne, and then up the River Rhine to 
Bingen and return. We then visited the Bois de 
Boulogne. On the way there we passed the Arc 
de Triomphe, some fine statues and Victor Hugo's 
monument. The Bois de Boulogne is a very fine 
park containing about two thousand acres. Many 
automobiles, cabs and carriages were there. I 
liked the park much better than I did when I was 
there in July of 1880. On our return from the 
Park we purchased tickets to attend the theater 
at the Grand Opera House on the evening of 
June 3d. 

On May 31st we left Paris for Cologne about 



222 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

eight a. m., and shortly after noon we stopped a 
short time at the enterprising city of Leige in the 
kingd6m of Belgium, and then proceeded on to 
Cologne where we arrived about four p. m. 

Cologne has a population of about a half mil- 
lion and it is one of the most interesting cities in 
the German Empire. It is situated on the left 
bank of the Rhine. It has one of the finest and 
most noted cathedrals in Europe. It is said that 
they were more than six hundred years in build- 
ing it. I well remember that when I was in Col- 
ogne in 1880 that I contributed fifteen pfennig 
towards its completion. It is said to contain the 
bones of several thousand Christians who were 
murdered in the fifth century because of their re- 
ligion. It is also said to contain the original staff 
carried by St. Peter, as well as the skulls of the 
three wise men from the East. 

The river is crossed here by two first class 
iron bridges, as well as by a boat or pontoon 
bridge. The iron bridges are high enough for the 
shipping on the river to pass beneath them, but 
in order to pass the boat bridge, two, three or 
four sections of it are run out of the way when 
necessary for shipping to pass. I crossed the 
river at this place on a pontoon bridge more than 
thirty years ago when I first visited Germany. 

My brother and I crossed over the Rhine on 
one of the iron bridges and returned by the boat 
bridge. The toll for crossing the river on the 



FRANCE AND GERMANY 223 

bridges was two pfennig. The pfennig is the 
fourth part of a cent. 

The next morning after our arrival at Cologne 
we took passage on an express steamer for Bin- 
gen. The trip was a fine one, especially so be- 
tween Coblentz and Bingen. The Rhine is con- 
sidered by many as being the most beautiful and 
picturesque river in the world. I have no hes- 
itancy in saying that the scenery along the river, 
with its narrow and winding channel, between 
the lofty hills on either side covered with market 
gardens and vineyards and also upon which many 
ruined castles tell of troublesome times in the 
past, is truly magnificent. No wonder the Ger- 
man, and especially he who has ever seen the 
Rhine, is proud of his Fatherland. The German 
who takes a trip on the Rhine on a clear day and 
cannot appreciate its beauty and grandeur and 
whose heart is not filled with gratitude, is un- 
worthy of his country. 

The Hudson River by many is considered the 
Rhine of America. Several years ago when my 
wife and I were making a trip up the Hudson, 
we met a very intelligent German lady who had 
been on the Hudson many times and admired its 
beauty. She said that she thought it was as 
pretty as the Rhine, but that on account of the 
old castles and historical associations the Rhine 
was the more interesting. 

The most beautiful part of the Rhine is 



224 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

between Bohn and Bingen. Just before we ar- 
rived at Bingen, at which place we stopped for 
the night, we passed the famous Mouse Tower on 
a rock in the middle of the river. 

Bingen is a town of about eight thousand in- 
habitants and is quite an interesting place. We 
visited the old castle and had a magnificent view 
of the town which lay at our feet and of the River 
Rhine and the surrounding country. While at 
Bingen I was reminded of that beautiful and 
pathetic poem written by Mrs. Norton, entitled 
"Bingen on the Rhine," which was' a favorite of 
mine when a boy. 

On June 2d we returned to Cologne on the 
local steamer Lohengrin and arrived there at six 
p. m., making the trip in eight hours, while it re- 
quired nine hours to make the trip up-stream on 
an express boat that stopped only at a few of the 
large towns. There is an immense amount of 
freight traffic on the Rhine. The river is, figura- 
tively speaking, literally covered with all kinds 
of steamers and freight boats. Some of the small 
tug boats will have from three to five large 
freight boats in tow all at one time on a trip 
either up or down the river. 

In the neighborhood of Bingen and on down 
the river for several miles the vineyards and 
market gardens on the hills contributed much to 
the beauty of the scene. Sometimes these vine- 
yards and market gardens occupied places where 



FRANCE AND GERMANY 225 

it was almost impossible to get a foothold, and 
at some places even extra soil had to be placed on 
the rocks in order to get sufficient nourishment 
for the plants to grow. These scenes would seem 
to indicate that patience, pluck and perseverance 
are some of the leading characteristics of the 
German. 

On our trip up the river we met four Ameri- 
cans, one getleman from Ann Arbor, one from 
Chicago, and a man and his wife from Salt Lake 
City, and returning we met a young man irom 
Columbus, Ohio, who was well known in political 
circles. The gentleman from Salt Lake City was 
a young doctor and his wife was a very intelligent 
lady, having been connected with farmers' insti- 
tute work in Utah. She was a Mormon but he 
was not a member of any church. 

All of these incidents made the trip much 
more interesting than it would otherwise have 
been. 

About eight o'clock on Saturday morning, 
June 3rd, we left Cologne for Paris, passing over 
the same route that we did on May 31st. The 
baggage of the through passengers from Paris 
to Cologne, or from Cologne to Paris, is not ex- 
amined on entering Belgium, but only upon en- 
tering Germany or France as the case may be. 
When we went to Germany the customs officials 
were very courteous and marked the small valises 

15 



226 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

all right without much inspection, but upon enter- 
ing France on our return journey the inspector 
was very rigid and somewhat discourteous. 

There is a fine canal at St. Quentin, and we 
saw a great many canal boats there, some of 
which were towed along by mules or horses just 
as the canal boats in our own country were towed 
forty or fifty years ago. 

I had a long conversation with a very intelli- 
gent German on the trip from Cologne. He said 
that it was impossible for any one to dodge the 
taxes in Germany. He also said that they had an 
income tax and no one could avoid it. In fact, he 
had a very high opinion of German perfection 
along that line. He said that in his opinion gov- 
ernment ownership of railways was an excellent 
thing and that Germany makes money out of her 
railways, but he said that the fare is a little 
higher than it is in England where private com- 
panies own the roads. He said that the French 
government would like to own the railway but 
the companies would not sell them. He did not 
think that it would be a good thing for the cities 
to own the street cars as the workmen would 
make trouble for them. 

We arrived in Paris at four p. m., promptly 
on time. The railway service between Paris and 
Cologne is first class. 

On Saturday evening, June 3rd, we attended 
the play entitled Rigoletto at the Grand Opera 



FRANCE AND GERMANY 227 

House, said to be the finest opera house in the 
world. We did not enjoy the play, but attending 
it gave us an excellent opportunity to see the in- 
terior of this magnificent building. It was first 
opened in January, 1875. It receives a subsidy 
from the government. 

While at Paris we made arrangements 
through Cook's agency to visit Versailles, one of 
the most noted places in France. One beautiful 
morning about forty tourists, including my 
brother and myself, left Place de 1' Opera in two 
carriages with a first class guide on the trip to 
that place. We went through some of the most 
beautiful avenues in the world. These avenues 
were lined with double rows of beautiful trees, 
and in many places fine works of art were to be 
seen. The finest of these beautiful avenues were 
no doubt Champs Elyssees and the Avenue by 
which we entered, the Bois de Boulogne. The 
drive through the beautiful park of more than 
two thousand acres was very fine. I was some- 
what amused at our guide when we reached the 
race course at Longchamp. He said, "This is 
the best race course in France but not in the 
world, as there is a better one in Australia." 
Guides do not usually make exceptions of that 
kind. 

On this race course every year in June the 
grand races take place. 

Upon our arrival at Versailles, we visited the 



228 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Grand Trainon, built by Louis XIV, in one part 
of which are the gala carriages, historical sledges 
and sedan chairs. The grandest carriage in the 
collection was used on several important state 
occasions, and it is mounted with a crown and 
has eagles on its corners. It cost one million 
francs and weighs several tons. 

After lunch we visited the Palace of Ver- 
sailles. It was founded by Louis XIII and prac- 
tically completed by Louis XIV, who made his 
residence here. Louis XV also resided here for 
some time, and the unfortunate Louis XVI made 
this palace his residence until he was taken to 
Paris in 1792, where he was executed January, 
1793. While in the palace we visited the picture 
galleries, the apartments of Louis XIV, and sev- 
eral other very interesting rooms. One of the 
rooms in the picture galleries contains nothing 
but pictures relating to war, and it is called The 
Gallery of Battles. 

The historical associations of this palace are 
extremely interesting, and it is hard for a person 
unaccustomed to such stormy times to fully re- 
alize what took place here. It is said that the 
late Queen Victoria visited this palace many years 
ago, but that she would not remain for the night 
but returned to Paris as she would not sleep in 
a room built for a mistress. 

After visiting several other interesting places 



FRANCE AND GERMANY 229 

at Versailles, we returned to Paris by way of St. 
Cloud. The park at that place, in which was 
situated the celebrated chateau which was burned 
in October, 1870, is very pretty. Shortly after 
leaving St. Cloud, we entered the Bois de Bou- 
logne, and after passing through a portion of it 
we were soon in Paris again. 

Every one was well pleased with the trip to 
Versailles, and it was pronounced a grand suc- 
cess. 

One afternoon my brother and I with about 
twenty others left the Place de 1' Opera in an 
automobile for a short tour of the city. We 
visited Madeleine Church, one of the most famous 
in Paris, noted for its fine statuary. We crossed 
the Place de la Concorde, said to be the finest 
open space in the city. During the Revolution 
the guillotine was erected at this place. From 
the Place de la Concorde, we entered the Avenue 
des Champs Elyssees mentioned on a former 
page, said to be the most beautiful avenue in 
Paris. At the top of the Champs Elyssees, the 
Arc de Triomphe is seen. 

The Trocadero Palace was built for the Ex- 
hibition of 1878. It is an interesting place, and 
from its tower we had a fine view of the city and 
the river. Upon our tour of the city we passed 
the Eiffel Tower. It is constructed entirely of 
iron and is nine hundred and eighty-four feet in 



230 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

height. We visited the Hotel des Invalides, which 
was founded by Louis XIV for aged veterans. 
This palace contains the tomb of Napoleon and 
it is considered one of the most interesting places 
in Paris. Napoleon's Tomb put me in mind of 
General Grant's at Riverside Park, New York. I 
think the tombs are somewhat alike. 

On another tour of the city in carriages, we 
visited the Halles Centrales, or Market Houses, 
which contain the largest market in Paris. It 
was a busy place when we were there. One could 
buy almost anything in the provision line. They 
even had snails for sale. We passed the Tour 
St. Jacques, a fine Gothic tower now used as an 
observatory. We went to the Hotel de Ville. 
The guide said that there were at least nineteen 
departments in Paris and each one had a Hotel 
de Ville (a town hall), but this one is the central 
one. The Bastile was an ancient fortress and 
prison which was captured by the people on July 
14, 1789, and which was destroyed the following 
year by decree of the National Assembly. It 
occupied the site now called the Place de la Bas- 
tile, in the center of which is the Colonne de 
Juillet (Column of July). This Column is about 
one hundred and fifty feet in height and is sur- 
mounted by a gilt figure representing Liberty. 

We visited the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise, 
said to be the largest in Paris. It contains many 



FRANCE AND GERMANY 231 

fine monuments, among which was a magnificent 
one to the memory of M. Thiers, the first presi- 
dent of the present Republic. 

The cemetery has many tombs with gates in 
front, and on the inside are fine statuary and im- 
pressive mottoes. We saw the tomb of one of the 
first Rothschilds, also the tombs of many persons 
who had taken an active part in the government 
of France. The Buttes Chaumont is a beautiful 
park of about fifty acres, said to be the latest 
work of the Emperor Napoleon III. The Place 
de la Republique, in which is a colossal statue of 
the Republic, the Gardens of the Tuileries with 
their many statues and fountains, and the 
Gardens of the Luxembourg, are very interesting 
places. 

I was very much disappointed in not having 
an opportunity to visit the Museum of the Louvre. 
It was closed the day we called and for want of 
time we did not call again. 

The River Seine is crossed by many bridges, 
some of which are simply magnificent. Paris is 
noted for its fine streets, wide boulevards and 
magnificent avenues. It is interesting to observe 
the street traffic on some of the most popular 
streets. I remember in particular several lively 
scenes on one of the fine streets leading to the 
Place de 1' Opera. 

The street was full of fine carriages and grand 



232 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

automobiles all driven at a rapid rate, and a 
traveler was in danger of losing his life in cross- 
ing the street unless he used the utmost caution. 
To mention all the interesting places that we 
visited while in Paris would occupy too much 
space and be somewhat tedious. 



CHAPTER XVI 

LONDON AND VICINITY 

ON June 8th we left Paris about ten a. m. 
and were in London long before sunset 
the same day. We went the Calais- 
Dover route, crossing the English Channel, which 
requires only about one and a half hours. The 
whole trip from Paris to London was a pleasant 
one. The traveler who visits Paris and London 
for the first time will be surprised at the con- 
trast between these two wonderful cities. Paris 
is all gayety and pleasure, so to speak, and Lon- 
don is more staid and businesslike. Paris is beau- 
tiful and rather artistic. London is plain but sub- 
stantial looking. Both cities have had wonderful 
historic records and have passed through some 
exciting scenes, but the excitement in Paris has 
been of a more recent date. Some terrible scenes 
took place there at the close of the Franco-Ger- 
man War of 1870, caused by the "Commune." 

For many weeks before we arrived in London 
it was reported that we could not find rooms 
there because of the rush of people to attend the 
Coronation of King George V, but that did not 
worry us any as we knew that we could find a 

(233) 



234 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

place somewhere if we were willing to pay the 
price. When we arrived in London we went to 
the Strand Palace Hotel but were told that the 
rooms were all taken. I said to my brother, "You 
stay here in the writing room and I will hustle 
around and find a hotel." I stepped out, turned 
the first corner, entered Haxell's Family Hotel, 
secured a room and was back again in less than 
ten minutes, so my chasing around after a hotel 
was not very exciting. We stayed most of the 
time at that hotel while in London. We did not 
remain there, however, during the Coronation as 
the procession passed it and the price of each 
room per night for several nights was five dol- 
lars and upwards, so we secured a room for those 
few nights at Noon's Hotel on High Holburn for 
less than one-third that price. 

Everything was hustle and push in London 
getting ready for the Coronation. Seats for 
viewing the procession sold at from one guinea 
to fifteen guineas each, and some of the best 
brought even more than that, a big price, as one 
guinea is worth a trifle more than five dollars. 

We arrived in London just two weeks before 
the Coronation took place, and that gave us an 
opportunity to visit several interesting places 
outside of the city as well as a few of the most 
important ones in the city before that event oc- 
curred. On June 9th we called at Charing Cross 
Railroad station to get the three pieces of bag- 



LONDON AND VICINITY 235 

gage that had been sent there from Marseilles, 
France, on May 28th. We soon found the bag- 
gage and had to pay only one shilling (about 
twenty-five cents) storage on each piece. 

We visited St. Paul's, which is without doubt 
the finest cathedral in England. A Christian 
church has occupied this site since the beginning 
of the seventh century. Old St. Paul's which was 
the fourth church to occupy this site, was de- 
stroyed in the great fire of London in 1666. The 
present church was designed by Sir Christopher 
Wren. It was begun in 1675 and finished in 1710 
under the supervision of one architect and one 
builder. The crypt contains the tombs of Nelson, 
Wellington, Turner, Reynolds and other eminent 
persons. There are many fine statues and monu- 
ments in the cathedral. The monument to the 
Duke of Wellington is considered the finest work 
of its kind in England. 

Soon after we reached London we called at 
one of Cook's offices and secured berths (by pay- 
ing a deposit of two pounds each) on the Steam- 
ship Carmania of the Cunard Line, which was to 
sail from Liverpool to New York on July 1st. 
We also called at the American Consulate in New 
Bond Street, and Mr. Carl R. Loop, the Deputy 
Consul-General, gave us a letter of introduction 
to the secretary of the Agricultural Organization 
Society. The secretary of that society gave us 
a letter of introduction to A. D. Hall, Director of 



236 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

the Rothamsted Experimental Station at Harpen- 
den, which we expected to visit in a few days. 

After lunch on June 10th we took a motor bus 
for London Bridge and then left for Crystal Pal- 
ace to visit the Festival of Empire, which was 
held at that place. It was an exhibition at which 
Great Britain and her colonies were represented. 
Our neighbor Canada had an interesting and in- 
structive exhibit there. Her agricultural and 
other interests were well represented, and that 
exhibit alone was worth going many miles to see. 
The artistic arrangement of the exhibit was very 
pleasing. There was a beautiful picture of an 
orchard that all stopped to admire, and some 
scenes representing early days and the present 
compared, were very pretty. 

New Zealand with only about one million in- 
habitants and thousands of miles away had -an 
excellent exhibit. Her wools, native flax, coal and 
iron, and their manufactured products were a 
credit to her. Some of the other colonies did not 
do so well, but England's exhibit was very good. 

One of the most interesting occurrences that 
took place during the afternoon that we were at 
the exhibition was a Sunday School Convention 
held on the grand stage in the Palace. It was an- 
nounced that five thousand Sunday School pupils 
would sing and that the grand organ would be 
used. It was surprising to see the perfect con- 



LONDON AND VICINITY 237 

trol that the director of ceremonies had over that 
vast number of singers. By a wave of the hand 
they would all rise without a single mishap or 
drawback. Each song was announced by the di- 
rector holding up a large placard upon which the 
number was printed in large type. They made 
the large Palace resound with their happy voices. 
Most of the singers were from ten to fifteen years 
of age. 

I need make no apology for referring to this 
song service for the songs of all nations have 
much to do with their future destiny. If the 
songs of a nation are grand and enobling, its 
future success is almost absolutely assured, but 
if they are low and degrading they will almost 
surely lead it to destruction. I think at least 
from eight to ten thousand persons listened to 
the concert. 

On Sunday morning, June 11th, we attended 
church at the City Temple on High Holborn and 
listened to an excellent sermon on Sin by the Rev. 
R. J. Campbell, one of the most popular ministers 
in London. At least two thousand were present. 
The choir was composed of forty persons, twenty- 
five ladies and fifteen gentlemen, who sat in the 
gallery in a semi-circle in front of the organ. 
The ladies in the front circle and the gentlemen 
back of them. All of the members of the choir 
wore gowns of light blue, and in addition the 



238 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ladies wore white scarfs and caps with a light 
blue tassel. One of the songs was a poem by 
Whittier. 

After lunch we went to Kensington Palace. 
It is a plain building but it contains some fine 
pictures as well as some interesting souvenirs. 
Queen Victoria was born in this palace, and it 
contains several interesting family pictures, one 
representing her marriage and one representing 
her as holding her first council. 

We next had a stroll in Kensington Gardens 
and enjoyed the shade of the fine trees within its 
borders. .We stopped to rest in the southeast 
corner of the garden where we admired the 
beauty and grandeur of Albert Memorial, one of 
the finest monuments in Europe, erected to the 
memory of the Prince Consort. The spire is one 
hundred and seventy-five feet high. Under a rich 
canopy is a fine statue of the prince. The sculp- 
tures at the four outer corners represent Europe, 
Asia, Africa and America. Those on the corners 
of the base represent agriculture, manufacturing, 
commerce and engineering. The base of the 
monument contains one hundred and sixty-nine 
life size statues or carved figures of some of the 
most famous poets, painters, sculptors, musi- 
cians, philosophers and architects of the world. 
From Kensington Gardens we went to Hyde 
Park, the most fashionable park in London. The 
body of water called the Serpentine is used for 



LONDON AND VICINITY 239 

bathing and rowing. A broad road through the 
Park to Kensington is called Rotten Row and is 
a fashionable resort for equestrians of both sexes. 

There are several other fine roads through the 
park. The scene in the famous Rotten Row, 
where many of the nobility and gentry are to be 
seen on a fine afternoon driving or riding on 
horseback, is one of the most interesting sights 
of London. 

Regent's Park of four hundred and seventy 
acres is another one of the interesting places in 
London. It is nicely laid out and has an extensive 
artificial lake within its borders. 

The Zoological Gardens occupy a portion of 
this Park, and are said to contain three thousand 
animals, which is supposed to be the largest col- 
lection in the world. When I visited the Gardens 
in 1880, I thought I would never see the like 
again, but they are much finer now than they 
were at that time. 

More than thirty years ago Madame Tus- 
saud's Exhibition of Wax Work was one of the 
most noted places in London but it is not so popu- 
lar now as formerly. This exhibition consists 
chiefly of wax figures of eminent persons, includ- 
ing the kings and queens of England, and some 
relics that once belonged to those celebrated char- 
acters. There is a group of seven or eight of the 
presidents of the United States, among which 
were fine figures of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, 



240 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Cleveland and Roosevelt, and of the many other 
figures we noticed in particular one of the king 
and queen of England, the emperor and empress 
of Germany, Ellen "Terry, Henry Irving, Queen 
Alexandria and a group of four suffragettes. 

A room attached to this exhibition and form- 
ing a part of it is called the Chamber of Horrors. 
It contains wax figures of some of the great crim- 
inals. In that room we saw an opium den. I 
suppose it was real. It was horrible enough at 
any rate. But of all the sad scenes in the Cham- 
ber of Horrors, the saddest was one representing 
the six stages of wrong: First, temptation; sec- 
ond, end of the game; third, ruin; fourth, re- 
venge; fifth, guilty or not guilty; sixth, his last 
journey. 

We walked around about these criminals for 
a short time only and then returned to the depart- 
ment representing pleasanter scenes. 

June 13th we visited Rothamsted Experi- 
mental Station at Harpenden. Upon our arrival 
we presented our letter of introduction received a 
few days before. Director Hall was very courte- 
ous and requested the foreman in the chemical 
department to show us over the farm. The farm 
is not all in one body as suitable land was taken 
for experiments whether it joined the rest or not. 
We visited the. root, grass and grain fields, which 
were divided into many different plots, and no- 
ticed the marked difference in some of them which 



LONDON AND VICINITY 241 

was produced by the different treatment that each 
received. The hay field with its many different 
plots was very interesting. It was really surpris- 
ing to see what different results were produced 
by the different kind of treatment each plot re- 
ceived. One plot had more weeds than an adjoin- 
ing one, or more clover, or more rye grass, and 
so on, all brought about by the use of different 
fertilizers. 

We next visited the wheat fields including the 
Broadbalk Field, said to be the most noted wheat 
field in the world. That field contains about 
eleven acres and slopes gently to the east. Each 
one of the plots is three hundred and fifty-one 
yards long and about seven yards wide and con- 
tains one-half acre. The different plots are sepa- 
rated by paths which are not cropped. The soil 
is a stiff, grayish loam containing many flints. 
The natural drainage is very good, but in addi- 
tion to that each plot has a tile drain running 
down through the center at a depth of from two 
to two and one-half feet. All of the drains empty 
into a brick trench so arranged that the water 
from each plot can be separately collected for 
analysis. The weeds are removed and the land is 
plowed five or six inches deep soon after harvest. 
The chief difficulty in growing wheat after wheat 
continuously is in keeping the land clean. 

Director Hall, in his book entitled Rothamsted 

16 



242 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Experiments, says: "The general scheme of the 
experiments in the Broadbalk Field has been to 
test the manurial requirements of wheat by 
growing it continuously with various combina- 
tions of manures repeated year after year on the 
same plots." 

With this end in view, the experiments on 
Broadbalk Field have been carried on since 1843, 
with some very interesting results. For the first 
eight years the manner of manuring was some- 
what varied but since 1852 wheat has been grown 
in the same manner on the same plots year after 
year and the average during the past sixty years 
has been thirty-five bushels per acre on the plot 
that received farmyard manure, and on plot num- 
ber eight that received Treble Ammonium-Salts 
and Minerals the yield was thirty-six per acre. 
Of the fifteen other plots none reached these 
yields and some of the yields were quite low. 

The plot without any manure whatever yielded 
an average of thirteen bushels per acre during the 
first fifty years but for the ten years following 
the average was so low as to cut the yield for 
the past sixty years down to twelve and one-half 
bushels per acre. 

Director Hall gave me a letter of introduction 
to a prominent farmer in Essex, as well as one 
to Professor Wood, School of Agriculture at Cam- 
bridge, and then we returned to London. 

On June 14th we went to Cambridge in order 



LONDON AND VICINITY 243 

to visit the School of Ariculture at that place. 
It was a busy day as the University was con- 
ferring honorary degrees upon some colonial 
delegates. While in Cambridge we visited sev- 
eral of the colleges connected with the University. 
We were in King's Chapel, King's College. It 
was odd but pretty. We visited several of the 
open courts connected with the different colleges. 
They were rather interesting, but the finest one 
that we saw was the Old Court at Corpus Christi 
College. At that court many beautiful vines and 
flowers lined the walls of the buildings that sur- 
rounded its four sides. The University is com- 
posed of twenty colleges, which in a measure are 
independent of one another. There is, however, 
a general supervision over the whole by a body 
called the Senate. When we left the group of 
colleges, many people were meeting at the place 
called the Senate, near King's College, in order 
to be present at the conferring of the degrees. 
The officials of the University wore gowns and 
other insignia emblematic of their different posi- 
tions. It was a pretty sight. Because of previous 
arrangements Professor Wood of the Agricultural 
College was compelled to attend the exercises at 
the Senate, but he made arrangements for Pro- 
fessor McKenzie to take us to the experiment 
farm two miles away. 

We left Cambridge for the farm in an auto- 
mobile, passing on the way in leaving the city 



244 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

several of the different colleges composing the 
University. We were soon at the farm and were 
shown a fine herjl of shorthorn cows. They were 
just milking them and straining the milk byput- 
ting a fine cloth over the strainer in order to pre- 
vent any filth getting into it. Several of the cows 
were prize winners. One of the cows was rather 
famous as it had produced three prize-winning 
calves in succession. We saw one of her calves. 
It was a dark red one, fourteen months old. 
When it was three days old they refused thirty 
pounds (one hundred and fifty dollars) for it. It 
was a fine calf, and Professor McKenzie said he 
would not take two hundred pounds for it. 

They had some very fine Yorkshire hogs and 
several first class Clydesdale mares. We visited 
this farm, however, to see the wheat breeding 
plots. These plots were very small and screened 
to keep the birds out of them, as they interfere 
with the breeding process. Some of the wheat 
was in bloom and we were shown just what was 
done to make some of it rust-proof. They were 
experimenting with alfalfa and other crops, but 
the different plots were not screened as the birds 
did not seem to bother them much. 

We saw a very fine potato field containing 
about ten acres, from which three hundred 
pounds' worth of potatoes was sold in 1910. The 
farmer who owned the land a few years previous 
to this time could not raise potatoes for sale as 



LONDON AND VICINITY 245 

he could not compete with the potatoes raised on 
black lands, but by judicious management pota- 
toes are now produced at a large profit. We saw 
a field of rust-proof wheat that looked as if it 
would produce from forty to forty-five bushels 
per acre. In fact, wheat on the best farms often 
yields that amount per acre. 

Before we left the farm we saw some fine 
sheep. Merino bucks are crossed with coarse- 
wool breeds and produce good results. 

After spending an interesting day at Cam- 
bridge and its experiment farm, we returned to 
London. On the way to Cambridge from London 
we passed Paul's fine nurseries. We saw them 
making hay at many places. It was a light crop 
on account of the drought. 

June 15th we called at the Consulate office and 
went to the post office, and then went to High 
Holborn and engaged a room for June 21st and 
22d. After lunch we left London for Trent by 
way of Leicester. We arrived at Trent station 
about four p. m. and then walked to Long Eaton, 
about one mile away, and stopped at the Royal 
Hotel. While in Long Eaton we visited some 
friends who had been in America, as well as 
others that I met when I was in Long Eaton in 
1880. 

Long Eaton is a prosperous town about six 
or seven miles from Nottingham. Its principal 
industry is lace making. In 1880 its population 



246 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

was only about seven thousand, but now it has a 
population of at least twenty thousand. It is a 
prosperous place and has the reputation of hav- 
ing more freeholders in proportion to its popula- 
tion than any other place in England. 

About eight o'clock Saturday morning, June 
17th, we left Long Eaton for Nottingham, and 
when we arrived there changed cars for Skegness, 
a seaside resort in Lincolnshire. As tickets were 
sold at reduced rates, the train was crowded all 
the way. There was no corridor in the cars on 
this train and each compartment could be entered 
only from the outside of the car. The compart- 
ment in which we rode had ten passengers, two 
of whom were school mistresses from Notting- 
ham. 

We arrived at Skegness about noon. When I 
was at Skegness in 1876 there were only a -few 
houses and two small hotels in the place. Now it 
is a very pretty town, or as we would say a small 
city, with wide streets and many fine apartment 
houses. The town contains some fine stores. The 
beach at this place is so smooth and the water so 
shallow for a long ways out that it is an ideal 
bathing place for children. An English gentle- 
man said to me "They get tired before they 
are drowned." 

About the middle of the afternoon we left 
Skegness for Spilsby, the birthplace of Sir John 
Franklin. Upon our arrival there we secured a 



LONDON AND VICINITY 247 

room at the George Hotel and then left for Part- 
ney, a small village about one and a half miles 
away. We went across the fields on the foot path. 
We soon found our cousins, who lived in the same 
house their father had lived in for more than 
fifty years and where my cousin George was born 
nearly seventy years before. We had lunch at 
Partney and then returned to Spilsby. We saw 
some very fine cattle in going to Partney and 
returning. 

While Spilsby is only an ordinary market 
town of Lincolnshire, yet a short description of 
it and its surroundings may be of interest to the 
general reader. The village contains about 
fifteen hundred inhabitants and is situated in a 
good farming and grazing country north of Bos- 
ton and not far from the seacoast. Its only rail- 
way is a branch which leaves the main line from 
London to Hull at Firsby, and to which place sev- 
eral trips back and forth are made daily. While 
it might be called one of the quiet little country 
towns of England, its inhabitants have oppor- 
tunity to come into contact with the rest of the 
world if they so desire. It is less than an hour's 
ride from Skegness, one of the most noted seaside 
resorts in England, and Boston and Hull are not 
far away. The Church of England and the Wes- 
leyan Methodist are the two leading religious or- 
ganizations of the town. The latter organization 
has a first class chapel and Sunday school room. 



248 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

This organization employs two ministers to offici- 
ate at the chapel, and it has two good parsonages. 
The Sunday school room was provided with a 
harmonium. It also contains a piano, which was 
not used because of some prejudice against it. 
There was a fine pipe organ in the chapel. 

My brother and I attended Sunday school in 
the room adjoining the chapel. Only about fifty 
pupils were present, most of them quite small 
children. Not more than three or four young 
men and about the same number of young women 
were in attendance. Nearly all the Sunday school 
pupils went to the adjoining room in the chapel 
and remained for the sermon. The superintend- 
ent of the Sunday school had held the position 
since 1884. The sermon at the chapel was quite 
good, but lifeless, as it was read without any en- 
thusiasm. 

The Wesleyan Methodist organization is the 
largest Methodist organization in England. It 
differs from the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
America in this particular : It has no bishops. 

In the afternoon we attended the Church of 
England and heard a very good sermon delivered 
to a rather small congregation. 

On Monday, June 19th, we visited the public 
market and saw hogs, sheep, cattle and horses 
for sale. The auctioneer was quite an old man and 
urged . the bystanders to bid by saying and re- 
peating, "Bid what you like." We were at the 



LONDON AND VICINITY 249 

market place long before the sale began and left 
after several sales were made because of other 
arrangements. 

At the beginning of the last century, there 
were more than five hundred and fifty market 
towns in England, most of which had only one 
market day during each week. Some of the im- 
portant towns, however, would have two or three 
market days each week, and as a matter of course 
every day was market day in London. More than 
a century ago Lincolnshire had twenty-five 
market towns, only three of which had two 
market days a week. Each of the others had only 
one. The market day might be any day of the 
week except Sunday. For more than a century 
the market day at Spilsby has been Monday. 
When I was in the town in 1876 I first saw the 
monument erected to the memory of Sir John 
Franklin and copied the following in my note 
book at that time: 

"Sir John Franklin 

Discoverer of the Northern Passage 

Born at Spilsby, April 1786, 

Died in the Arctic Regions, 

June, 1847" 

We visited Partney again before we left 
Spilsby, but as it was somewhat rainy we went 
by the road and not on the footpath through the 
fields. The road was built of very hard stone 



250 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

(granite) and there was not a rut or bad place 
in it. There were several piles of stone along the 
way, which no doubt were used for repairing the 
road when necessary. This used to be the main 
thoroughfare from London to Hull before the ad- 
vent of the railway. Short heavy mile-posts 
along the way indicate the distance from London, 
as well as the distance from one town to the next. 
One of these mile-posts shows that Spilsby is one 
hundred and thirty-three miles from London. 

Partney contains a Church of England place 
of worship, as well as a Methodist chapel. 

We left Spilsby for Boston to visit some 
friends, and after lunch we visited Boston 
Church, known as St. Botolph's Church. It is a 
large, handsome Gothic structure, with a very 
high tower. 

Boston, Massachusetts, was founded by Eng- 
lish immigrants in 1630 and got its name from 
this ancient town from the fact that some of the 
leading settlers came from this place. Soon after 
the American town was founded the Reverend 
John Cotton, who was a Vicar in this church in 
1833 and whose pulpit we saw, left here to help 
make a greater Boston in America. 

We returned to London on the evening of 
June 20th, and the next day visited some of the 
most interesting parts of the city and were sur- 
prised to see how nicely it had been decorated in 
our absence. Near Westminster Abbey we met 



LONDON AND VICINITY 251 

an old gentleman who had lived in London for 
fifty years. He was on his way to attend a mu- 
sical entertainment at Hyde Park but instead 
gave it up to show us around the city. He was 
one of the kindest men I ever met. 

We had a fine outside view of Westminster 
Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, but because 
of arrangements being made for the Coronation 
we could not enter either of those places. I had 
visited both of them many years ago, and they 
were so interesting that I had a desire to see them 
again. 

Westminster bridge is one of the many fine 
bridges across the Thames. It is a handsome 
bridge and crosses the river near the Houses of 
Parliament. It is eleven hundred and sixty feet 
long and eighty-five feet wide, fifteen feet of 
which on each side is used by foot passengers, 
leaving a roadway forty-five feet wide. 

Waterloo Bridge is said to be one of the most 
magnificent bridges in the world. It is thirteen 
hundred and eighty feet long, and was opened in 
1817 on the second anniversary of the Battle of 
Waterloo. 

London Bridge is no doubt one of the most 
noted bridges. It was opened in 1831. It is re- 
garded as one of the finest granite bridges in the 
world. It cost, with its approaches, two million 
pounds, and a few years ago it was enlarged at 
a cost of one hundred thousand pounds to give 



252 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

more space for foot' passengers. More traffic 
passes over it than over any other bridge in Lon- 
don. 

One of the most interesting places in London 
is the Victoria Embankment along the north side 
of the Thames. It extends from Westminster 
Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge, a distance of about 
one and a quarter miles. It was a gigantic under- 
taking at the time it was proposed, and its total 
cost when completed was about two million 
pounds. It was formally opened in July, 1870, 
by the Prince of Wales, who afterward became 
Edward VII. By means of a wall of the finest 
Aberdeen granite, which extends the whole length 
of the embankment, an area of about thirty-five 
or forty acres has been recovered from the river, 
and a place that was once unsightly is now a thing 
of beauty. There is a splendid carriage way 
along the Embankment with a fine foot path on 
each side. Along this carriage way are fine shade 
trees, and about ten acres of the land reclaimed 
from the river has been laid out as ornamental 
gardens and divided into three sections, known as 
Whitehall, Villiers and Temple. These three sec- 
tions of the Victoria Embankment, because of 
their central position, have been chosen as the 
site of a large number of statues. Because of 
their convenient position they are visited by a 
great many 'people, and the numerous seats are 
seldom empty when the weather is fine. Cleo- 



LONDON AND VICINITY 253 

patra's Needle was brought from Egypt in 1878 
and erected on the Victoria Embankment not far 
from Waterloo Bridge. The obelisk is about 
sixty-nine feet high and weighs one hundred and 
eighty tons. According to the inscription upon 
it, it was erected at Heliopolis in Egypt about 
fifteen hundred years before Christ. 

In and near Whitehall, not far from the Em- 
bankment, are the government offices, comprising 
the foreign, home, colonial and Indian depart- 
ments. Near the Admiralty at the Whitehall en- 
trance to St. James's Park, are two mounted 
sentinels on duty. They are known as the Horse 
Guards. 

Buckingham Palace faces St. James's Park. 
Queen Victoria chose it as her town residence in 
1857, and since then it has been used as a royal 
residence. 

The Victoria National Memorial is in front 
of this palace. The striking feature of the Mem- 
orial is a statue of the queen in robes of state 
seated on a throne. 

London has many narrow and crooked streets, 
except in the newer parts where they are wider 
and better arranged. In some of the older parts 
of the city many buildings have been torn down 
for the purpose of straightening and widening 
the streets. The whole city, however, is connected 
by several trunk lines of streets, so to speak, so 
that it is comparatively easy for a stranger to 



254 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

find his way from one section to another. Some 
of the important streets east and west are Pica- 
dilly and Pall Mall, Oxford Street and its continu- 
ations, High Holborn, Holborn Viaduct and 
Cheapside, the Strand and its continuation, Fleet 
Street. 

There are also some first class streets running 
north and south, of which Regent Street is per- 
haps the finest. 

During the afternoon and evening before 
the Coronation took place, the main thorough- 
fares were literally packed with people. About 
the middle of the afternoon we went to 
the Strand and took a bus for Liverpool Street. 
It was almost impossible to get through 
the streets, and when we left the bus at 
one of the cross streets there was a per- 
fect jam. The people on the streets and those on 
the buses were cheering one another and having 
great sport. Two or three policemen were un- 
tangling the blockade and opening a passageway 
so that we could move on. Several of the pas- 
sengers right in front of the police cheered the 
people on the buses, but the policemen were good 
natured, smiled and motioned for us to pass on. 
I am sure the police enjoyed the sport as well as 
the people on the street, but as a matter of course 
they could not take part in it. 

We called at the American Consulate office in 
New Bond Street and then returned to the hotel. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE CORONATION, NORWICH AND LIVERPOOL. 

I AROSE at four-thirty on Coronation Day, 
June 22d; after doing some writing I 
called my brother. We had an early 
breakfast and left the hotel a little before seven. 
We went direct to Trafalgar Square arid then 
through it into Cockspur Street to Pall Mall and 
got a fine position not far from Haymarket. Al- 
most in front of us but a little to our right on 
the same side of the street in an open space, a 
mounted band furnished some excellent music at 
intervals during the day. Sometimes when the 
band played some of the spectators would hum a 
song. Fine decorations were all around the place 
from which we viewed the procession. Directly 
in front of us on the opposite side of the street 
was the office of the Farmers' Loan and Trust 
Company of New York, and to the left of that 
office was Thomas Cook & Son's office with many 
seats but not very good ones ; and on the right of 
the Farmers' Loan Office were the offices of the 
Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. On the decora- 
tions, or rather part of them, was the word 
CANADA in large letters. Below the Farmers' 

(255) 



256 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Loan Office, which occupied the second story of 
the building, was the German-American Steam- 
ship Company's office. The Farmers' Loan Office 
was nicely decorated with English and American 
flags. On our left just beyond the mounted band, 
was a large building in which were the offices of 
the White Star Steamship Company. In the win- 
dows facing us were some fine American and 
English flags, and on the top of the building 
were several large British flags with a still larger 
American flag in the center waving proudly in 
the breeze. 

Not far from us Were crowns upon poles en- 
twined with wreathes and vines made out of 
paper but so perfect as to look natural. Red, 
white and blue were the colors in view every- 
where. The whole city, especially on the line of 
march, was decorated in a similar manner, -but 
at some other places the decorations were on a 
more magnificent scale. I think the reader will 
pardon me for wearing on this occasion a red, 
white and blue rosette with the letters, G. R. in 
the center. 

Long before noon there was an immense jam 
almost everywhere along the streets through 
which the procession was to pass on its return to 
the palace. It was composed of all classes of peo- 
ple, but they all seemed jolly and good natured. 
It was one of the most democratic assemblages 
of people that I ever saw. They did not seem like 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 257 

subjects of a kingdom but like citizens of a great 
republic. 

The crowning of the king took place in West- 
minster Abbey shortly after noon, and it was a 
little after two p. m. when the head of the pro- 
cession arrived at Pall Mall near Haymarket. An 
adequate description of the procession is an im- 
possibility. Words cannot do justice to its beauty 
and magnificence. Not only the British Empire, 
but almost the entire world, was represented in 
it. The spectators showed their appreciation of 
the grand and gorgeous display by their enthusi- 
astic and long continued cheering, in which I 
must confess I took some part. As a matter of 
course, when the carriage of the king and queen 
approached the enthusiasm was at its height. 
The Indian Cavalry was without doubt one of the 
most striking parts of the procession. It was 
composed of strong, stalwart men from India. 
Their fine turbans about their heads and their 
rich and gorgeous uniforms attracted the atten- 
tion of the boys among the spectators "who 
cheered this' glittering calcavade with all the 
abandon of youth," and the boys of a larger 
growth admired their erect and independent car- 
riage which seemed to say as they rode along in 
the procession, "We are proud to be citizens of 
this the greatest and most powerful kingdom on 
earth." In fact, every one admired the fine ap- 

17 



258 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

pearance of the Indian Cavalry, and they were 
enthusiastically cheered. 

The German Emperor was represented by his 
oldest son, who was accompanied by the Crown 
Princess. They were very popular and were 
heartily cheered. 

A mounted band in the procession attracted a 
great deal of attention. The drummer had two 
drums fastened one on each side of his horse. I 
was amused to see the seemingly careless manner 
in which he beat them. It required about one 
hour for the procession to pass. lb was a success 
from beginning to end and will long be remem- 
bered by those who saw it. 

It rained a little at intervals in the morning 
but not enough to mar the festivities. 

Every one spoke in praise of the London 
police. The members of which are noted for their 
patience, kindness, tact and efficiency. It seems, 
however, to me that a London crowd is never in 
a hurry and that has a tendency to make it better 
natured and more orderly than the gatherings in 
most other cities of the world. 

As a matter of course, every one who goes to 
London should visit the British Museum. It con- 
tains the choicest objects belonging to every de- 
partment of knowledge, among which are many 
fine collections of antiquity. The library in the 
museum is said to be the largest in the world. 
The reading room is very fine and will accommo- 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 259 

date more than three hundred readers. As I 
walked through the aisles of some of the Egyp- 
tian rooms about the mummies and mummy cases, 
some of which were more than four thousand 
years old, I thought of that "Anonymous Address 
to a Mummy" that I read in my boyhood days. 
Two lines of it ran as follows : 

"And thou hast walked about, (how strange a story!) 
In Thebes's streets, three thousand years ago," 

Since that poem was written, mummies have 
been found of persons who lived nearly six thou- 
sand years ago. By investigation and study, al- 
most the exact age of most of the mummies can 
be determined. In one of the Egyptian rooms 
were mummies of some of the sacred animals. 
After death, they were emblamed and deposited 
in tombs or pits. 

The Egyptian antiquities include vases, jew- 
elry, furniture, combs and many other articles, 
all of which date back to from fifteen hundred to 
twenty-five hundred years before Christ. I sup- 
pose there are more Egyptian antiquities in the 
British museum than at any other place in the 
world. The manuscript department is very in- 
teresting, as it contains many old manuscripts 
and rare autographs. In this department is the 
original charter known as Magna Charta, forced 
from King John by the barons in 1215. The 
Charter closes with these words: "given by our 



260 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

hand in the meadow which is called Ronimede 
between Windlesor (Windsor) and Stanes on the 
15th day of June in the 17th year of our reign 
(1215)." This charter was never signed by'the 
king but he affixed the great seal to it. Signa- 
tures were not common at tHat time and the great 
seal was sufficient to make the document valid. 
We saw Shakespeare's signature to a mortgage, 
also John Milton's signature to a contract for the 
sale of the manuscript of Paradise Lost. As 
Milton was blind at the time, perhaps his signa- 
ture was written by an amanuensis. 

The National Gallery on the north side of 
Trafalgar Square contains more than a thousand 
pictures of some of the best British, French, 
Dutch, Italian and other first class artists. 

During our short visit at the Gallery, I made 
note of a few of the most interesting pictures. 
Many of them represent Biblical scenes and char- 
acters. I noted one or two very fine pictures of 
the Holy Family, as well as several of the Virgin 
and Child. The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, 
painted in Florence in 1475 by Antonio Pollainolo, 
was very interesting. 

A very pleasing incident occurred during our 
visit at the Gallery. We were surprised to meet 
Reverend Knox of Sydney, Australia, who was a 
fellow passenger on the steamer India from Ade- 
laide, South Australia, to Port Said, where we 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 261 

left the steamer on April 9th. It is needless to 
say that we had a fine visit. 

Sunday morning, June 25th, I was down on 
the street about six o'clock and had quite an in- 
teresting conversation with a policeman. After 
making some inquiries in regard to places of wor- 
ship he said, "Why not go and hear Mr. Campbell 
at the City Temple? More people inquire for 
that church than any other." He also said that 
Mr. Campbell had been offered an enormous sal- 
ary to go to America, but he refused to go as he 
thought he could do more good in London. I 
told him that my brother and I had heard Mr. 
Campbell, and he then said that it would be in- 
teresting to attend services at the Foundling 
Church at Guilford Place not far away and gave 
me excellent instructions how to reach it. I then 
spoke of the Coronation, the Indian Cavalry and 
the London police, and in regard to the police he 
said, "We never know whom we are likely to 
meet. A shabbily dressed man may be a better 
one than a man with a silk hat and fine clothes, 
so we treat every one alike. A policeman may be 
talking with a plainly dressed person and after 
a while the person will ask, 'How do you like 
your work?' and other similar questions, after 
which he will make himself known, and it will be 
found that he is one of the inspectors of the force 
from another district and he takes this method 



262 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

of finding out whether the men on the force are 
satisfied with their positions and whether they 
are competent and efficient officers." 

In speaking of the Indian cavalry, he said 
that they were the Bengal Lancers, that it was 
the best regiment in the world, that they were fine 
riders, and that if we would go to Guildhall tne 
coming week we could see them ride again. He 
inquired about Australia and thought that ne 
would like to go there if he were a single man. 
He said that he had worked on a Peninsular and 
Oriental boat and that it was held up and 
searched on the Red Sea by the Russians during 
the Russian and Japanese War, but that that 
affair cost the Russians thousands and thousands 
of pounds. I spoke of cheering the king, the sol- 
diers and the Germans, and he said, "We cheer 
every one." He told of a meeting at which some 
Americans were present and said they were all 
enthusiastically cheered by the English. 

After having visited England on three differ- 
ent occasions, I feel absolutely certain that the 
great mass of her people have a kindly feeling 
toward our country. They say that it is hard to 
get rid of first impressions, and that may in a 
measure account for my high opinion of the Lon- 
don police. When I visited England in 1876 I 
thought that it was composed of the finest lot of 
men that I ever saw. They looked so strong, so 
robust and so manly, that I fell in love with them, 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 263 

and I still have a high opinion of them, but here 
is a good place to say that the police everywhere 
have always treated me well. 

The members of the police force never seemed 
too busy to perform acts of kindness. I will re- 
late one of the many acts of kindness which came 
under my personal notice. At the Mansion House 
on one of the nights of the illuminations, a mother 
with her small child was so packed in that im- 
mense crowd that it was impossible for her to 
move. A policeman found her and placing her 
child high upon his shoulder said to the mother, 
"Follow me." He soon had her and her child 
out of that immense throng in a place of safety. 
He did not say, as we sometimes hear said, "What 
are you doing here with your child?" but he kindly 
helped her out of her trouble. 

We attended services at the chapel connected 
with the Foundling Hospital at Guilford Place, 
as suggested by the policeman. We arrived at the 
chapel about fifteen minutes before the services 
began. All of the children were in their places. 
They sat in the gallery, the boys on one side of 
the organ and the girls on the other. There must 
have been at least three hundred of these chil- 
dren, about one-half of whom were girls. The 
music was fine and the services were interesting. 

After the services closed the visitors Were 
shown through the Home. We visited the girls' 
dining room when they were at dinner, and I 



264 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

never saw a cleaner and healthier lot of children 
in my life. They were intelligent and good look- 
ing. This hospital was founded by Captain 
Thomas Coram in 1739 for deserted children. 
"Now, however, to entitle children to admission 
their mother must be known." 

On Monday, June 26th, we visited the Tower 
of London. It is a rather interesting though 
dreary place. It consists of a collection of build- 
ings covering about twelve acres on the north 
side of the Thames. It has been used as a palace, 
a fortress and a prison. It was founded by Wil- 
liam the Conqueror to secure his authority over 
the inhabitants of London. The mere mention of 
its name recalls some of the most stirring events 
in English history. The central keep, known as 
the White Tower, is ninety-two feet high, and its 
external walls are fifteen feet thick. Many emi- 
nent persons have been confined within the cells 
of this tower. Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and 
Sir Walter Raleigh were but a few of the many 
who met their fate here more or less unjustly. 

The Tower has been the depository of the na- 
tional arms from the time of its erection, and 
within its armories are many interesting speci- 
mens of armor and of weapons. The Horse Arm- 
ory has many equestrian statues of English kings 
and knights clothed in armor representing the 
different periods of English warfare. In the time 
of Edward III, it is said that armor became so 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 265 

splendid and costly that knights were not taken 
prisoners but were killed for their coat of mail. 
It is also said that the heft of the armor in Queen 
Mary's reign was so great that knights used to 
faint because of its enormous weight, and when 
unhorsed they could not rise again. 

In Queen Elizabeth's armory are some strange 
and interesting instruments of warfare, such as 
pikes, battleaxes, swords and other brutal and 
rude instruments. Some of these old warriors 
wore only helmets and breastplates, while others 
were clad in a full coat of mail made so as to give 
the wearer opportunity to move his body. 

As one walks through the aisles and galleries 
of the rooms in which are stored all of these old 
and discarded methods of protection and warfare, 
he will see that even in the method of killing 
people there has been some improvement, and if 
warfare must be carried on it can be made more 
efficient and less brutal than formerly. 

It was a rainy, raw, chilly day, and not a very 
good one to visit dungeons. We went from the 
Tower to the Tower Bridge, a new one across the 
Thames just below London Bridge, and then we 
visited some of the fine book shops in and about 
Paternoster Row, the book section of London. 

June 27th, after making arrangements 
through Thomas Cook and Son to have our 
heavy baggage sent to Liverpool and placed 
in our stateroom on board the steamer Carmania 



266 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

of the Cunard Line, we left for the Royal Agri- 
cultural Show at Norwich. We arrived at Nor- 
wich shortly after noon, and found the city finely 
decorated in honor of the king, who was intend- 
ing to visit the show on the next day. The Ca- 
thedral at Norwich was quite interesting, and 
like most cathedrals in England, it has a history 
of many years back of it. Its foundation stone 
was laid in 1094 by the first Bishop of Norwich. 
The Cathedral as it now stands dates from the 
early part of the fifteenth century, but during the 
civil wars of the seventeenth century it was 
partly sacked by fanatics who destroyed the win- 
dows, tablets, tombs and altar plate. The castle 
around which some warlike scenes took place 
some years ago, is now used to house the splendid 
museum of which Norwich is justly proud. 

On the 28th we visited the Royal Show. It 
was only a short distance from Norwich, and as 
we arrived early we had an excellent opportunity 
to inspect the live stock. There was an excellent 
exhibit of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, as well 
as farm implements and many other things. The 
Shire, the Clydesdale and the Suffox are the lead- 
ing English draft horses. The shire is the 
heaviest breed, and the Clydesdale is the most 
active, while the Suffox is the most compactly 
built. The Suffox is of a chestnut color. It is 
one of the most popular draft horses in Australia. 
There were also on exhibition some fine horses for 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 267 

hunting, riding and driving purposes, as well as 
some very small and pretty Shetland and Welsh 
ponies. 

The cattle department was represented by 
eighteen or twenty distinct breeds. The Short- 
horn, Herford, Aberdeen, Angus, Sussex and 
South Devon were the most popular beef brands, 
and of the milk and butter breeds the Jersey, 
Guernsey, Kerry and Ayrshire easily took the 
lead. The so-called dual purpose cow has many 
friends in England. 

The sheep department was equally interest- 
ing. We were surprised to learn from the official 
catalogue that there were more than seven hun- 
dred entries in that department, representing 
twenty-five distinct breeds. The Oxford Down, 
Thropshire, Hampshire Down, Suffox, Dorset 
Horn, Lincoln, Border Leicester, Kent or Romney 
Marsh, and Cotswold, were some of the leading 
breeds on exhibition, and no doubt some of the 
breeds not mentioned were equally as good as 
these. The Lincoln breed of sheep are very large 
and are said to be excellent wool producers. Rams 
of this breed have been sent in large numbers 
annually to Argentina. The Border Leicester and 
Kent or Romney Marsh are said to be very popu- 
lar in New Zealand. The Thropshire, South 
Down and Cotswold and several other of the Eng- 
lish breeds are great favorites in some parts of 
the United States. The Dorset Horn is consid- 



268 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ered a good breed as it will produce lambs at 
almost all seasons of the year. It is the only 
breed in England that can be bred twice a year. 

There were some very fine hogs at the show, 
representing five or six different breeds. The 
poultry exhibit numbered more than twelve hun- 
dred, mostly chickens. There were very few 
ducks, geese or turkeys entered. 

In 1886 when the Show was at Norwich the 
last time previous to this, there were only one 
hundred and ninety-two entrances in the poultry 
department. The entrance at this Show repre- 
sented twenty different breeds. The Orpingtons 
were the most popular and stood at the head of 
the list, having two hundred and fifty-three en- 
tries. Next were the Wyandottes, with two hun- 
dred and twenty-one entries. The Plymouth 
Rocks were quite popular, with eighty-two en- 
tries. 

The butter making competition, in which there 
were more than seventy competitors, and the 
horse shoeing exhibition, containing more than 
forty competitors, were intersting features of 
the Show. The display of dairy products was 
very fine. 

Another one of the interesting features of the 
Show was the jumping competitions. There must 
have been ten or fifteen entries in the competi- 
tion the day we were present. The race course 
was obstructed by gates, fences, hedges, a pool 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 269 

of water and a wall. There was perhaps a total 
of eight or ten of these obstructions, some of 
which were at least four feet high. The com- 
petitors in the jumping contest were compelled 
to take the fences and other obstructions at a fair 
hunting pace. In case of refusing or bolting at 
any one obstruction, the horse was allowed two 
more trials at the same fence or obstruction in 
that round. Some of the jumping was very fine, 
but as a whole I did not think the jumping was 
very good, as too many of the horses would 
knock down the barriers, and now and then one 
of the horses would bolt. 

The king entered the Show in the afternoon 
just before the jumping competitions took place. 
We had an excellent opportunity to see him as we 
were right in the route taken by his carriage and 
had to step back to let it pass. He and three 
other gentlemen were in the same carriage. He 
was dressed in plain clothes and removed his hat 
when the crowd began to cheer him. The king 
strikes me as not being what would be called in 
America a shrewd politician, but rather as a 
plain, fine, good looking, domestic man. I liked 
his appearance very much. Queen Mary is very 
popular, and the English people love her because 
of her fine Christian character. 

On one occasion when we visited the Festival 
of Empire at the White City, we attended the 
Maori performance. There was a fine introduct- 



270 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ory by the whole company, and then an address 
of welcome, after which there was dancing and 
then several songs, followed by a hand and arm 
exercise, then a fierce war dance and several 
songs, all of which was quite interesting. 

The Coronation exercises continued for one 
week following the crowning of the king and 
queen at Westminster Abbey on June 22d, and 
were brought to a close at the Thanksgiving ser- 
vices at St. Paul's Cathedral on June 29th. 

The Daily Telegraph, London, June 30th, 
1911, said: "It would be tedious to recount the 
names of the well known men who were yester- 
day gathered together in St. Paul's, but as one 
watched the crowd, five among them seemed, 
even in that tense imperial atmosphere, to bear 
upon their shoulders a heavier weight of repre- 
sentation than all the others." These five were 
Mr. Asquith, Mr. Balfour, Lord Roseberry, Sir 
Wilfred Laurier and Mr. Whitelaw Reid. After 
commenting briefly upon the other four, it had 
this among other things to say in regard to Mr. 
Reid, who was the American ambassador at that 
time : "Now it is the plain fact that to Mr. Reid 
more than to any other living man is due the 
splendid but silent boast that the word 'foreigner' 
continues to have no meaning whatever as ap- 
plied between his countrymen and ourselves. 
Nay, more, we doubt whether there was a more 
sincere man in all the congregation that met 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 271 

yesterday to return thanks for the successful 
consecration of the new British sovereign." As 
an American, I was pleased to read such a grand 
tribute to one of our leading citizens. 

On the evening of the 29th we went to the 
Mansion House to see the splendid illuminations 
that took place there. The illuminations were 
simply magnificent. There was such a jam of 
people on the street that the omnibuses and tram 
cars could riot be used and people had to go on 
foot 'to reach the place. 

On June 30th we left London for Liverpool. 
We passed through Leicester, Manchester and 
Warrington, and saw the famous ship canal 
through which medium sized ocean steamers can 
approach the city of Manchester. The canal is 
thirty-five miles long, considerably more than a 
hundred feet wide and twenty-six feet deep. 

In going to Liverpool we passed through some 
good farming and grazing country, and saw some 
neat stone fences between Leicester and Man- 
chester. 

There had been a dockers' strike at Hull and 
other labor troubles affecting shipping in differ- 
ent parts of England for some time before our 
arrival at Liverpool, but when we arrived at that 
city we learned that the strike had spread to all 
the great Atlantic lines and that no one could 
tell when any of them would leave for America. 
After some investigation, I found that our bag- 



272 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

gage sent from London several days ago had ar- 
rived and that it would be placed on the steamer 
as requested. We called at Cook's as well as at 
the Cunard steamship company's office, but got 
very little information in regard to the strike. 
At the latter place, we were requested to call 
again in the morning. 

On July 1st we called at the Cunard office as 
requested, and learned that the strike affected 
that line as reported, but the agent felt sure that 
the Cunard steamer Carmania would leave on 
time as that company was not much involved in 
the strike, and we were advised to be at the docks 
promptly at two-fifty p. m. and that a tender 
would take us to the steamer which lay out in 
the river and which had not docked on account 
of the labor trouble. 

We called at St. George's Hall but it was 
closed so as to get it ready for the concert to be 
held there in the afternoon. I expressed some 
regret at not being able to visit the building, and 
then a policeman at the door got permission for 
us to enter and we were shown through the Hall. 
The organ recital takes place in the immense 
auditorium in which is one of the largest organs 
in the world. The organist gets a large salary, 
but there is only a small charge for admission to 
the recitals. We were in the criminal court room 
in which the American, Mrs. Maybrick, was tried 
and found guilty of poisoning her husband. 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 273 

Liverpool has a very fine museum and a first 
class library and art gallery. 

There was much uneasiness and excitement at 
the dock when we arrived there. I asked a per- 
son who seemed to be at leisure when the Car- 
mania would sail and he replied, "Not for a 
month." At three-ten p. m. we left the docks on 
the tender Skirmisher (a very appropriate name 
for the occasion) and were soon on board the 
Carmania. It was a large fine boat. We were 
assigned to the first table and got a card marked 
"R. M. S. Carmania. Second Cabin. First Sit- 
ting. Breakfast 7:30 a. m. Dinner 12 m. Tea 
5:00 p. m. Seats Nos. 168 and 169." 

About eight p. m. I called on the Purser and 
got two telegrams from friends who wished us 
a safe voyage, also a letter from home and one 
for my brother. The mail for America remained 
on the tender Skirmisher, and it was reported 
that it would not be put on board until it was 
known when the ship would sail. It was also re- 
ported that the ship was short of about sixty or 
seventy hands, mostly firemen. 

On Sunday morning, July 2d, I was up at four 
a. m., and as I walked the deck I wondered why 
capital and labor could not be friends, since the 
one depended upon the other for its success. It 
was reported that the mail for America was put 
on board the night before. A steward told me 

J8 



274 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

that he did not think that we would leave for 
many days, and our bedroom steward said that 
the Cunard Company could get plenty of non- 
union men to make up the deficiency but that the 
union men would not work with them and that 
they ought not to do so as the Union had secured 
all of the benefits for the workingman and that 
the non-union men would share in all of these 
benefits without contributing anything to secur- 
ing such a condition. A passenger and a steward 
both told me that a fire was started on board the 
ship, but I was inclined to think that they were 
mistaken. Our bedroom steward, however, told 
me that the strikers would blow up the ship if it 
went on this trip without a settlement. It was 
reported at tea that the steamer would take on 
coal tonight and in the morning and then sail, 
but a short time after that report I heard an 
officer tell a passenger that we would leave to- 
night and get coal at Queenstown. There were 
all sorts of rumors as to when the ship would 
leave. The condition was very uncertain, al- 
though it was rumored that the strike was set- 
tled before I retired on Sunday night. 

July 3d when I went on deck four large coal 
barges lay alongside the steamer, two of them 
nearly unloaded. Everything was quiet. After 
breakfast they began to unload again. The 
Skirmisher ran back and forth on Sunday and 
during the night, and in the morning it was 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 275 

alongside the ship again. It left at ten-thirty a. 
m. with letters from the steamer. It was re- 
ported that the ship would sail in the afternoon. 
At noon the barges were nearly unloaded, and 
about one p. m. I read the following notice in the 
main stairway: "To the Passengers of the Car- 
mania: The Cunard Company exceedingly re- 
gret the delay and inconveniences caused to the 
passengers by the strike. They are happy to say, 
however, that it is practically ended, and the bal- 
ance of the crew required for the Carmania are 
this morning joining the vessel. An additional 
quantity of coal is being put on board as a meas- 
ure of precaution, and when this operation is 
completed the ship will be at once despatched. 
The Company beg to express their thanks to the 
passengers for the sympathetic manner in which 
they have accepted the conditions which were un- 
expectedly thrust upon the Company on Satur- 
day." 

The C. P. R. Steamer, the Empress of Britain, 
left today at one-fifty- five p. m., with the Canad- 
ian soldiers who had been attending the Corona- 
tion and a full load of passengers. There was 
immense cheering as she sailed past the Car- 
mania. Flags were flying and whistles were 
blowing. She had been held up for several days 
and was just getting away. 

At two-fifteen p. m. the following was posted : 
"Cunard Line R. M. S. Carmania. Announce- 



276 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

ment to Passengers. This ship will sail at two- 
forty-five p. m." As a matter of fact, the Car- 
mania sailed at three-ten p. m. The strike was 
temporarily settled for one month. Every one 
was happy when the ship started on the voyage. 
Many Americans were returning home and we 
had a fine company of second cabin passengers. 

This steamer, like most other first class ones, 
had a fine library on board. It contained about 
two hundred and fifty well-bound volumes, many 
of them by well-known English and American 
authors. The following were a few of the many 
good books in that library: Beside the Bonnie 
Briar Bush, It is Never too Late to Mend, Thack- 
ery's Vanity Fair and Henry Esmond, Westcote's 
David Harum, Tennyson's Poems, Shakespeare's 
Works, Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad, Tom 
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Mrs. Ward's 
David Grieve, Scott's Waverly and Kenilworth. 

The ship's musicians entertained the passen- 
gers with some first- class music. The Carmania 
is quite a large vessel, said to have a capacity of 
twenty thousand tons. 

On July 4th the steamer stopped at Queens- 
town at four forty-five a. m. It took on about 
seventy-five passengers, mostly steerage. A great 
many dressed sheep were also taken on board, as 
well as some rhubarb and other garden truck. 
As none of the large vessels land at Queenstown, 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 277 

the passengers and cargo are taken off or put on 
board by a small steamer called a tender. I pur- 
chased a couple of Irish newspapers from a news- 
boy who came on board for a short time. Hun- 
dreds of sea gulls were sitting on the water near 
the steamer while it stopped. The gang plank of 
the tender America was pulled in and the Car- 
mania was started on its journey again after 
stopping less than an hour. 

If any American was so unpatriotic or so 
careless as to forget our national holiday, the 
British steamer Carmania reminded him of the 
fact, as it was pleasing to see on our breakfast 
cards the words: "Cunard Line R. M. S. Car- 
mania. Second Cabin. Breakfast. Independ- 
ence Day, July 4, 1911," followed by a list of eat- 
ables. 

The coast of Ireland was very pretty. About 
eight a. m. we passed Fastnet Light House, and 
at about eleven a. m. we passed a steamer Fran- 
conia of this line. It was said to be from Boston 
bound for Liverpool. It was quite close to us. 
For several days following the Fourth the 
weather was foggy and misty and often the 
steamer would blow its whistle or fog horn every 
minute. 

Several days before we landed at New York, 
the assistant purser was in the dining room all 
day giving out landing tickets to native Ameri- 



278 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

cans as well as to the other passengers. He was 
very strict with some of the passengers, and they 
had to sign statements. 

On Saturday night there was another concert 
on board for the benefit of the Seamen's Orphans' 
Home of New York and Liverpool, and on Sun- 
day there was Episcopal Church services in the 
first cabin dining room at ten-thirty a. m. 

On Monday morning, July 10th, the fog was 
more dense than at any other time during the 
trip, but it soon cleared away and it was a very 
fine day. We saw land about two p. .m. and soon 
after that the pilot came on board. He came out 
on a small steamer called the New Jersey. In 
entering the harbor, Staten Island and the Statue 
of Liberty were welcome to our view. We ar- 
rived at the dock shortly after six p. m., paid the 
duty on a few goods and left for the hotel. 

Early the next morning we went to the New 
York Central Station and left the city at eight 
forty-five on the fast mail. One hundred and 
twenty-fifth Street was literally lined with peo- 
ple. In my notes at the time I said, "New York 
is great. I like it. We have a grand country." 

In New York we saw many places where 
clothes were hung on the sides of the houses just 
as they were in some of the foreign cities. 

Our trip by railway up the Hudson was very 
interesting. The scenery on both sides of the 



THE CORONATION, NORWICH, LIVERPOOL 279 

river was grand, and the freight and passenger 
traffic on its surface gave it a lively appearance. 

We arrived at Albany about noon and soon 
left for Buffalo by way of Utica, Syracuse and 
Rochester, and arrived there at seven p. m. All 
the way from New York to Buffalo the country 
presented a lively appearance. There was much 
activity along the river, and as we approached 
Utica and for some distance beyond there seemed 
to be much digging and dredging for the improve- 
ment of the public works. At other places hay 
making and cutting and hauling grain seemed to 
be the order of the day. 

Amid all these scenes of peaceful activity I 
was pleased that I could call this "my own, my 
native land," and I thought of these lines : 

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself has said, — 
This is my own, my native land !" 

It was very hot the day we arrived in New 
York and the next day on the way to Buffalo it 
was so extremely hot, that every gentleman in 
the car had his coat off. On the trip to Buffalo, 
we occupied a very fine car upholstered in green. 
The car had forty-four seats including four single 
ones and could accommodate eighty-four passen- 
gers if necessary. On account of a defect in our 
car we had to change at Buffalo for Toledo, Ohio, 



280 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

where we arrived very early in the morning of 
July 12th, and shortly after seven a. m. we left 
Toledo for home, arriving there about ten a. m., 
where we found our families well and everything 
in first class shape. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

CONCLUSION 

One can scarcely realize what progress has 
been made in the methods of traveling, both by 
land and by water, during the past forty or fifty 
years. At the beginning of that period railway 
service was uncertain and passenger rates were 
exhorbitant, especially in the West. 

I remember when the first Lightning Express 
ran through our village. It was quite an event 
and many of the citizens turned out to see it pass 
through. Although its speed was only about 
thirty or thirty-five miles an hour, some of the 
patrons were of the opinion that it was moving 
at too rapid a rate. Perhaps the speed was too 
great as the track was not in very good shape as 
compared with its present excellent condition. 
The rails were light, the joints were not well 
secured, and the roadbed, although running 
through a very level country, was somewhat out 
of balance. 

At that time there was but one track. Now 
there are three first class tracks, with very heavy 
rails and built so perfectly that the trains pass 
over with speed and safety as well as quietly and 
smoothly. 

(281) 



282 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

Formerly a trip from New York to Chicago 
would require from one and one-half to 
two days instead of eighteen or twenty hours 
as at present. All of the first class roads, and 
there are many of them now, are built more sub- 
stantially than they were several years ago, and 
they are equipped with the best palace and Pull- 
man cars. It is now a pleasure to travel from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific or from the Great 
Lakes to the Gulf. 

The improved facilities for traveling by water 
have kept pace with those marked out by the rail- 
way. Thirty-five or forty years ago it required 
from eight to twelve days for a steamer to make 
the trip from New York to Liverpool, but now it 
can easily be made in six or seven days. 

Not many years ago it was thought quite an 
undertaking to go to Europe, but now it is con- 
sidered only a short holiday jaunt. An ocean 
voyage! What a comfort! There is no other 
place in the world where a person can rest so well 
as on one of those large floating palaces on the 
bosom of the deep. 

In America almost everyone travels first class. 
In fact, as a rule there are very few second class 
tickets sold. There are no local second class rates, 
and second class through rates are only a trifle 
lower than first class. 

A citizen of the United States who has never 
traveled in a foreign country is likely to get a 



CONCLUSION 283 

wrong impression as to the advantages or disad- 
vantages of the different classes of railway travel. 

In 1880, while traveling in Europe, I traveled 
many miles by first class as some of the express 
trains in France were composed of carriages of 
that class only. I prefer however, to travel sec- 
ond class rather than either first class or third 
class on all foreign railways. 

By choosing that class a person will not be so 
exclusive as he would be in first class, and yet 
not so crowded as in the third class. 

Some years ago an eminent American scholar, 
who made an extensive tour in Germany, is re- 
ported to have said that he traveled in the third 
class as the best means of coming in contact with 
the learned men of the country. 

Very few of the people in any of the foreign 
countries that I have ever visited travel in what 
are designated first class carriages, and in some 
of the foreign countries the great majority of 
them travel third class. 

The second class carriages are as clean and as 
comfortable as the first class, but they are not so 
ricely furnished. 

Several business men in Australia told me that 
they always traveled second class but that their 
clerks traveled first class. 

On my first two trips to Europe and return I 
traveled by first cabin. Many of the steamers at 
that time carried only two classes, first cabin and 



284 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

steerage, but as a rule on those steamers that 
carry first and second cabin passengers the second 
cabin berths are the most popular. The price is 
much lower and the passengers are not so aristo- 
cratic. 

Among the second cabin passengers you will 
find ministers, lawyers and doctors, as well as re- 
tired army officers and other notables. In fact, 
I prefer second cabin to first cabin as a means of 
coming in contact with some of the best people 
in the world. 

It was my good fortune to have' as a fellow 
passenger on the Steamship India from Colombo 
to Port Said an ex-member of the Federal Parlia- 
ment of Australia. He and his sister were travel- 
ing in India, but on account of the plague that 
had broken out there all foreigners were re- 
quested to leave the country by a certain time or 
remain there and be quarantined, and thus they 
became passengers on the India. He was rather 
fortunate in being selected as one of the guard 
of honor at Buckingham Palace and received a 
Coronation Medal from the king. 

On the steamer from Australia to New Zea- 
land I had the pleasure of meeting Sir William J. 
Lyne, a member of the Federal Parliament of 
Australia. He had also been a member of the 
First" Commonwealth Ministry, having been Min- 
ister of Home' Affairs. 

He was proud of the fact that it was through 



CONCLUSION 285 

his efforts that the women of Australia were first 
permitted to vote at the Commonwealth elections. 
He was also pleased to say that he had been more 
than thirty years in public life. 

Women are eligible to become members of the 
Commonwealth Parliament of Australia. It 
seems strange, however, that in New Zealand 
where women have been voters for more than 
twenty years that they should be ineligible to 
become members of Parliament. It is said that 
the ballot was given to the women of New Zea- 
land without their request. 

I made a statement on a previous page in re- 
gard to the graduated land tax, having for its 
object the division of the large estates up into 
smaller parcels. Both New Zealand and Aus- 
tralia have such a law. 

In discussing this subject with an ex-member 
of the New Zealand Parliament, he boasted that 
it was the easiest thing in the world to beat the 
government and that he evaded the tax by mak- 
ing a sham division of his estate so that the law 
would not affect it. 

I have since learned that the New Zealand 
law has not accomplished its object. 

As regards Australia, from advices received 
this year (1914) from an ex-member of the Fed- 
eral Parliament, I learned that, "The graduated 
land tax has worked as a revenue tax and is not 
splitting up the large estates. The big men pass 



286 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

it on. There has been some subdivision of estates 
— but only such as the natural increases of popu- 
lation caused." 

Until recently each state of the Common- 
wealth of Australia issued its own postage 
stamps, and while the different states had stamps 
of the same value they were of different designs 
and could not be used except in the state where 
issued. At present, however, postage stamps are 
issued by the Commonwealth, good in each of the 
six states. It is provided that the individual 
states shall not issue any stamps in the future. 

Before the Federation, each of the colonies 
made its own tariff laws, and as New South 
Wales had established free trade and as it was 
one of the richest and most prosperous of all the 
colonies, it was loth to join in the proposed Fed- 
eral government as it had misgivings that an ob- 
noxious tariff would be forced upon it. 

Shortly after the formation of the Common- 
wealth, however, the tariff question was adjusted 
by the establishment of interstate free trade, but 
because of exceptional circumstances in Western 
Australia provisions were made for the retention 
of interstate duties by that state during the five 
years after the imposition of uniform duties with 
foreign countries. This special concession to 
Western Australia came to an end on October 8, 
1906, since which time trade between all the 
states has been free. 



CONCLUSION 287 

To satisfy all parties when the Common- 
wealth was formed, there was a provision put 
into the constitution that the Federal capital 
should be in New South Wales, distant not less 
than one hundred miles from Sydney. In August, 
1904, the Federal Parliament fixed the seat of 
government at Dalgety in New South Wales, but 
on the 14th of September, 1908, this act was re- 
pealed and the following selection was made in 
its stead: 

"It is hereby determined that the seat of gov- 
ernment of the Commonwealth shall be in the 
district of Yass-Canberra in the state of New 
South Wales. The territory to be granted to, or 
acquired by, the Commonwealth, within which 
the seat of government shall be, should contain 
an area of not less than nine hundred square 
miles, and have access to the sea." 

The spot selected as the seat of government 
is southeast of Sydney a short distance off of the 
railway from that place to Melbourne. 

John Foster Fraser says of it, in his book 
entitled, "Australia : The Making of a Nation" : 
"Yass, as a town, is little more than a name. It 
is an extremely picturesque spot. But it is not 
on the road to anything, except scenery." 

The territory selected for the seat of govern- 
ment will not be subject to any state law but will 
be entirely under the control of the Federal gov- 
ernment of Australia, just as the District of Co- 



288 NOTES ON TRAVELS 

lumbia is under the control of the Federal gov- 
ernment of the United States. 

Many Australians seem to think that the seat 
of government will not be moved to the new site 
but that the Federal Parliament will meet indefi- 
nitely at Melbourne. 

Yass-Canberra, or rather Canberra, as no 
doubt the new city will be called, is in the District 
-of Canberra two thousand feet above sea level. 
It is said that its delightful climate and pictur- 
esque surroundings will make it an ideal place for 
a capital city. 

. About three years ago there was an. interna- 
tional competition for the best plans for the cap- 
ital city, and the world was surprised that the 
successful competitor was an American from 
Chicago. No doubt before long the new capital 
city will spring up under his supervision. 

Much has been said as to when, where, and 
how one should travel. No absolute rule can be 
given as so much depends on the tastes, habits 
and inclinations of each individual. 

"See America First," "Take a Trip to the Pa- 
cific Coast Before you go to Europe," and similar 
advice does not mean much to the average Amer- 
ican. Where should one go? As a matter of 
course, every one should become somewhat ac- 
quainted with his own country before he makes 
an extended trip to a foreign land. He should 
be interested in it, he should know something of 



CONCLUSION 289 

its resources and become acquainted with some of 
its rivers, lakes and mountains. And yet, if I 
were a citizen of an eastern state, I think that I 
would make a trip to Europe before I went to the 
Pacific coast, and if I were a resident of the 
Pacific coast I think I would make a trip to Hono- 
lulu before going to New York. 



'19 



INDEX, 

PAGE 

Aborigines, Australian Ill 

Aden, Arabia 124 

Adelaide, South Australia 89 

Agricultural College, Hawkesbury 51 

Agricultural College, Roseworthy 92 

Agricultural Ex. Station, Wagga Wagga 56 

Agricultural Show at Norwich 266 

Agriculture in France 220 

Agriculture, School of 243 

Albert Memorial 238' 

Alexandria, Egypt 173 

Appian Way at Rome 191 

Auckland, New Zealand 20 

Ballarat, Sturt Street 69 

Bendigo, Gold District of 74 

Berry, the Village of 48 

Bethlehem, in Holy Land ■ 146 

Bingen on the Rhine . 224 

Botanical Gardens at Ballarat 73 

Bridge of Sighs _213 

Brisbane, Capital of Queensland 16 

Cairo in Egypt 158 

Canal, the Grand 213, 214 

Cathedral St. Paul's 235 

Carmania, the Steamer 272 

Ceylon, the Island of 122 

Champion, H. H . . 87 

Christchurch, New Zealand 34 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre 136 

Church at Parramatta 54 

Church. The City Temple 237 

(•-91) 



292 INDEX 

PAGE 

Climate of New Zealand 39 

Colburn, F. D., quoted 61 

Coliseum, The 200 

Cologne, Population of 222 

Commonwealth of Australia 96 

Columbus, Birthplace of 185 

Convent, The Armenian 145 

Dragoman in Holy Land 135 

Earthquake in New Zealand 23 

Education in Italy 187 

Embankment, Victoria : . 252 

Farmers' Bulletins 60 

Flax in New Zealand 22, 31 

Florence, Italy t - '. 208 

Forum, The Roman. 200 

Fremantle, Western Australia 113 

Gallery, National Art 260 

Gembrook, A Trip to 66 

Goldfields in Western Australia 114 

Gold, Large Nuggets of 107 

Harbor at Sydney 18', 51" 

Harcourt in Fruit District.- 76 

Harvester Works at Sunshine 82 

Heliopolis (City of the Sun) 161 

Hobart, Tasmania _. 44 

Holman, Attorney General 44 

Holy Stair Case, The 197 

Honolulu 10 

Hospital, Foundling 263 

Hot Springs District 23 

Invercargill, New Zealand 35 

Jaffa to Jerusalem 135 

Jaffa to Port Said. 155 

Jerusalem, The Walls of 152 

Jordan, The River 140 



INDEX 293 

PAGE 

Kalgoorlie, Goldfields at 114 

Kensington Palace 238 

King George at Norwich 269 

Lakes, New Zealand 25, 26 

Land Tax in New Zealand 37 

Land, Transfer of 101, 102 

Lazarus, Tomb of 142 

Laws, Closer Settlement 101 

Loop, Carl R 235 

Lyne, Sir William J 284 

Magna Gharta 258 

Marseilles, P>ance 180 

Mazzini, the Patriot 188 

Melbourne, Victoria 45 

McCall, Senator J. H 75 

Methodists, Wesleyan 248 

Milford Sound 41 

Monte Carlo 183 

Monument, Victor Emanuel 198 

Mormon Missionaries 8 

Mosque, The Alabaster 159 

Mountain Scenery in Canada 5 

Mount Eden, New Zealand 21 

Mount of Olives 138 

Mount Lofty 91 

Mount Tarawera , 25 

Mount Vesuvius 205 

Museum, The British 258 

Naples, Description of 206 

Napoleon's Tomb 230 

Navy, U. S., at Auckland ■ 39 

Newspapers, Australian 109 

New Zealand, Population of 36 

Nice, City of 185 

Nile, The River 161 



294 INDEX 

PAGE 

Pantheon, The 192 

Paris and London, Contrasted 233 

Parks in Sydney 62 

Pilgrims' Bathing Place. 140, 144 

Premier of New Zealand 32 

Police, The London 262 

Pompeii, The Ruins of 204 

Port Said, A Coaling Station 131 

Postage, Australian . . . . : 286 

Pumice in New Zealand 27 

Pyramids of Egypt 164, 168 

Railways, Australian 98, 99, 100 

Railway Carriages 217 

Rameses II., Statue of 169 

Reid, Mr. Whitelaw 270 

Rickshaw, The." 119, 121 

Rivers, the Rhine and the Hudson 223 

Rothamsted Experiment Station 240 

Rotorua, New Zealand 22 

Samaritan, Inn of the Good 138 

Sampson's Birthplace 135" 

School of Mines and Mining 72 

Sea, The Dead 140 

Sheep at Norwich Show 267 

Sheep in Australia 103 

Siloam, Pool of 150 

Skegness, a Seaside Resort 246 

Southern, Cross 18 

Sphinx, The. 166 

Spilsby, a Market Town 247 

Statuary at Ballarat 70 

Stud Farm near Berry 50 

St. George's Hall 272 

St. Kilda Beach .- 86 

Strike, The Dockers' 270 



INDEX 295 

PAGE 

Strike at Sunshine 82 

Suez Canal 127 

Suva, Capital of Fiji Islands 13 

Tasmania, Noted for Its Fruit. 44 

Taupo, Lake 30 

Tax, The Graduated Land 285 

Temple, A Buddhist 121 

Theaters in Sydney 62 

Tomb of the Bulls '. 167 

Torrens, Sir R. R 101 

Tower of London 264 

Traveling, First, Second or Third Class 282 

Tuileries, Gardens of the 231 

Tussaud's Wax Gallery 23f 

University, Mohammedan 160 

University, Cambridge 243 

Versailles, Palace of 228 

Wages in Southern Italy 211 

Wailing Place, Jews' 145 

Weather, Zero in Canada 3 

Wheat Breeding 244 

Wheat Field, The Broadbalk 241 

Wheat Growing in Tasmania 102 

Wheat in Sacks in Fields 65 

Wheat Threshing 57 

Woman Suffrage 285 

Wool, Price of 104 

Yass-Canberra 287 




m&m-. 



*mxM 



